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Clinical diagnostic applications of ear-canal reflectance have been researched extensively in the literature, however, the measurement uncertainty associated with the conventional measurement technique using an insert ear probe is unknown in human ear canals. Ear-canal reflectance measured using an ear probe is affected by multiple sources of error, including incorrect estimates of the ear-canal cross-sectional area and oblique ear-probe insertions. In this paper, ear-canal reflectance measurements are reproduced in an occluded-ear simulator and in 54 adult ear canals using two different measurement techniques: a conventional ear probe and a two-microphone probe that enables the separation of reverse- and forward-propagating plane waves. The two-microphone probe is inserted directly into test subjects' ear canals, and the two-microphone method is distinguished by not requiring the ear-canal cross-sectional area to calculate the ear-canal reflectance. The results show a reasonable agreement between the two measurement techniques. The paper further examines the influence of oblique ear-probe insertions and the compensation for such oblique insertions, which results in an improved agreement between the two measurement techniques.

Creation of an auricular framework plays the main role on first stage of microtia reconstruction. The size of framework is determined based on the size of the contralateral healthy ear and customized with Nagata theory. The height of rib that added behind the previous framework is the same with the projection of the normal ear. But the height of rib needed and framework in bilateral cases is unknown. A population based auricular framework pattern and projection are urgently needed.This study aimed at determining the mean values of normal anthropometric measurement of external ear and projection of human ear in males and females and their comparison on either sides and in either sex.Measurements are taken from 524 subjects (96 men and 428 women) aged 17 to 35 years using a Vernier caliper. The parameters measured were total ear height, ear width, lobular height, lobular width, upper pole, middle upper pole, middle pole, lower middle pole, lower pole, each subject's right and left ears.Comparisons between gender were performed by independent t test and paired t test for comparison between right and the left ear. All dimensions were significantly different between male and female ( P 0.05) except the right lobular height ( P 0.05). There was no significant difference both side among groups (P 0.05) except total ear height on female group (P 0.05). All projection dimensions were significantly different between male and female. There was no significant difference of auricular projection of right and left auricular on the male (P 0.05) groups except the projection of lower pole. There were significant between auricular projection of right and left ears on the female groups (P 0.05).These findings suggest that the normal anthropometric study will have implication in the ear reconstruction especially on bilateral cases as a baseline for reconstruction.

The external ear is one of the defining features of facial morphology. Its shape and size is influenced by age, sex and ethnicity. The relevant literature on the study of ear morphology mainly includes the following aspects: age- and sex-related differences of ear morphological variation analysis of the influential factors of variation in ear morphology the reasons why ear size increases with age ear symmetry study the determination of prominent ears and the difference of incidence rate the application of ear morphology. Through summarizing the research data and conclusions of related literature, this paper briefly outlines the research on ear morphology and the measurement method of ear parameters, and gives a brief review and outlook on the research of ear morphology in China.

Now-a-days, securing ones information has become a greatest threat. The advancement in the technology has paved way for many biometrics systems. These biometrics using finger prints have been highly hacked these days. This paper suggests a technique using the human ear as the perfect source of person identification as it has its own unique features. A few image processing algorithms were applied to segment the ear but some lacked in perfect. The proposed system emphasizes on developing a biometrics system that would detect and recognize a person using the features of their ear where the ear is segmented using appropriate segmentation techniques. The ear recognition is then carried out by using feature matching technique.

Significance The katydid tympanal ears have outer, middle, and inner ear components analogous to mammalian ears. Unlike mammals, each ear has two tympana exposed to sound both externally and internally, with a delayed internal version arriving via the gas-filled ear canal (EC). The two combined inputs in each ear play a significant role in directional hearing. Here, we demonstrate that the major factor causing the internal delay is the EC geometry. The EC bifurcates asymmetrically, producing two additional internal paths that impose different sound velocities for each tympanum. Therefore, various versions of the same signal reach the ears at various times, increasing the chance to pinpoint the sound source. Findings could inspire algorithms for accurate acoustic triangulation in detection sensors., Located in the forelegs, katydid ears are unique among arthropods in having outer, middle, and inner components, analogous to the mammalian ear. Unlike mammals, sound is received externally via two tympanic membranes in each ear and internally via a narrow ear canal (EC) derived from the respiratory tracheal system. Inside the EC, sound travels slower than in free air, causing temporal and pressure differences between external and internal inputs. The delay was suspected to arise as a consequence of the narrowing EC geometry. If true, a reduction in sound velocity should persist independently of the gas composition in the EC (e.g., air, CO2). Integrating laser Doppler vibrometry, microcomputed tomography, and numerical analysis on precise three-dimensional geometries of each experimental animal EC, we demonstrate that the narrowing radius of the EC is the main factor reducing sound velocity. Both experimental and numerical data also show that sound velocity is reduced further when excess CO2 fills the EC. Likewise, the EC bifurcates at the tympanal level (one branch for each tympanic membrane), creating two additional narrow internal sound paths and imposing different sound velocities for each tympanic membrane. Therefore, external and internal inputs total to four sound paths for each ear (only one for the human ear). Research paths and implication of findings in avian directional hearing are discussed.

Objective To describe the external and middle ear of goats, using computed tomography and endoscopic dissection, comparing them with the anatomy of the human ear, aiming to evaluate the viability of this animal model for training in otological endoscopic surgery. Methods Images of the external and middle ear of goats were produced by computed tomography in the coronal and axial planes and analyzed. The radiological anatomy of the external and middle goat and human ear are described. Some measures of surgical interest were described, such as the length of the external auditory canal, external and internal cross-sectional area of the external auditory canal, middle ear depth, vertical angle of the external auditory canal, length of malleus and incus. After the tomographic study, we analyzed the importance of evaluations through the endoscopic dissection of the goat ear. Results The bony canal is extremely tortuous and shows a bony prominence with significant elevation near the lower edge of the tympanic membrane. The middle ear has a large tympanic bulla in the hypotympanum region. The malleus is shaped similarly to that of the human, but its handle is located anterior to its head. The mastoid is not pneumatized. Compared to the human mastoid, there was a statistically significant difference in the external and internal cross-sectional area, at the depth of the middle ear, in the vertical angle of the canal and in the length of the incus. Conclusion Goat morphometric anatomy showed that this model is suitable for surgical simulation in the initial training for endoscopic otological surgery. It is an important contribution to the development of skills to accelerate the subsequent endoscopic otological surgical training in humans, despite some differences found.

Background: Human beings are unique in number of physical characteristics like shape and form ofan individual. These characteristics are influenced by a wide range of racial, ecological, psychological,geographical, gender and biological variations. Human external ear is often overlooked during anthropometricmeasurements. The structure of human ear is so much variable that even two ears are different in sameindividual and it also varies according to age, sex, race and ethnic group.Authentic anthropometric data ofear for a particular population is necessary for designing of ear products for occupational environments, tofind out the age, sex and stature of an individual in that population. This data on ear measurements can alsobe helpful in forensic and medico-legal cases for personal identification of an individual. The main objectiveof the study is to find any relationship between ear parameters and stature and also to formulate regressionequation for estimation of stature in Haryanvi adult Jaats.Methods: The present study was conducted on 300 healthy Haryanvi Jaats (150 females and 150 males)aged 20 to 60 years. Measurements of ear length, ear breadth and stature were taken on each subject.Conclusion: Ear length and ear breadth are not significantly correlated with stature (p>0.05) in both thesexes except ear breadth which is significantly correlated with stature in males (p

To assess the effects of ossicular chain malformations on the performance of bone conduction hearing aids, a human ear finite-element model that includes an ear canal, a middle ear, and a spiral cochlea incorporating the third windows was established. This finite element model was built based on micro-computed tomography scanning and reverse modelling techniques, and the reliability of the finite element model was verified by comparison with reported experimental data. Based on this model, two main types of ossicular chain malformations, i.e., the incudostapedial disconnection and the ossicles fixation, were simulated, and their influences on bone conduction were analyzed by comparing the trans-cochlear-partition differential pressures. The results indicate that the incudostapedial disconnection mainly deteriorates the bone conduction response at mid frequencies. The stapes fixation has the largest effect among the ossicles fixation with the bone conduction stimulation, which also mainly decreases the mid-frequency response of the bone conduction, especially at 2 kHz. As the speech intelligibility has the most important frequency range at the range between 1 kHz and 2.5 kHz, the mid-frequency deterioration caused by ossicular chain malformations should be compensated in optimizing the design of the bone conduction hearing aids. For treating patients with the ossicular chain malformations, especially for the patients who suffer from the stapes fixation, the output of bone conduction hearing aids' actuator in the middle frequency band should be improved.

Tinnitus is an unusual sensation of hearing perceived without direct sound source. Given the multiplicity of management methods, a work of schematization of the most used therapies; i.e. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), Cognitive and behavioral therapy (CBT), and Phase-out” sound therapy (POST) is led based on the Jastreboff model. Human ear models can be used to predict therapy effectiveness. Therefore, we presented three different models (an electric model, an acoustic model and a finite element model) which we then compared by applying them to two external ear shapes. The first is considered to have an auditory canal of uniform section and the second approaches the real shape of the external ear (variable section). The finite element (FE) model gives the most accurate results seeing that it allows to approach the real dimensions of the outer ear. The acoustic model gives results with a maximum deviation of 7,2 percent compared to the FE model with reduced computation time and simpler manner. The electric model is best suited if we consider the outer ear as a tube of uniform section closed at its end.

In the field of ear shape clustering, 3D ear modeling and ear related personal product implementation, it is of great significance to retrieve the accurate position of some key physiological curves and key points. Traditional edge extraction method is very sensitive to lighting and pose variations. A method for extracting the key physiological curves of the human ear based on an improved instance segmentation network YOLACT is proposed in this paper. By labeling the human ear dataset, the YOLACT model is trained. By improving the network prediction process, it can accurately segment different regions of the human ear and extract key physiological curves. Compared with the original YOLACT and other segmentation methods, it shows higher segmentation accuracy on the test dataset and can extract more accurate human ear physiological curves. The proposed method also shows more robustness under lighting variation, pose variation and slight occlusion.

The vestibular and cochlear aqueducts serve as additional sound transmission paths and produce different degrees of volume velocity shunt flow in cochlear sound transmission. To investigate its effect on forward and reverse stimulations, a lumped-parameter model of the human ear, which incorporates the third windows, was developed. The model combines a transmission-line ear-canal model, a middle-ear model, and an inner-ear model, which were developed previously by different investigators. The model is verified by comparison with experiments. The intracochlear differential-pressure transfer functions, which reflect the input force to the organ of Corti, were calculated. The results show that middle-ear gain for forward sound transmission is greater than the gain for reverse sound transmission. Changes in the cochlear aqueduct impedance have little effect on forward and reverse stimulations. The vestibular aqueduct has little effect on forward stimulation, but increasing its impedance causes deterioration on reverse stimulation below 300 Hz. Decreasing its impedance increases the excitation effect during reverse stimulation over the entire frequency, especially below 1000 Hz. Moreover, compared with the case without the third windows, the presence of the third windows has little effect on forward stimulation. Whereas, it boosts the reverse stimulation's performance below 300 Hz.

This paper shows an influence of a transducer of a middle ear implant on ear dynamics on the basis of the multi-degree-of-freedom biomechanical system. Results of numerical simulations of an ear model with implant are compared with those of the healthy middle ear. Two variants of damping are analysed. The first one typical for a normal healthy middle ear structure and the second one describes pathological properties of the human ear. Moreover, the behaviour of the transducer under various external excitations is investigated. For some set of parameters, the middle ear with the implant behaves regularly but sometimes even chaotically in case of strong excitation.

Auditory function in vertebrates depends on the transduction of sound vibrations into electrical signals by inner ear hair cells. In general, hearing loss resulting from hair cell damage is irreversible because the human ear has been considered to be incapable of regenerating or repairing these sensory elements following severe injury. Therefore, regeneration and protection of inner ear hair cells have become an exciting, rapidly evolving field of research during the last decade. However, mammalian auditory hair cells are few in number, experimentally inaccessible, and barely proliferate postnatally in vitro. Various in vitro primary culture systems of inner ear hair cells have been established by different groups, although many challenges remain unresolved. Here, we briefly explain the structure of the inner ear, summarize the published methods of in vitro hair cell cultures, and propose a feasible protocol for culturing these cells, which gave satisfactory results in our study. A better understanding of in vitro hair cell cultures will substantially facilitate research involving auditory functions, drug development, and the isolation of critical molecules involved in hair cell biology.

Human ear ossicles are essential for normal sound conduction from the external environment to the inner ear. These bones are subjected to high biomechanical loads due to the sustained vibrations which occur with reception of sound. It is expected that the bones would undergo a significant amount of remodeling and change in bone mineral density during the lifespan of an individual. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the possible changes in bone mineral density of regions of the ossicular chain during postnatal life. Forty four left and 36 right sets of human ear ossicles, ranging from a sub-adult age group to a mature adult age group, were sourced from the School of Anatomical Sciences, University of Witwatersrand. The ear ossicles were scanned using a micro-focus CT X-ray. A three-dimensional reconstruction of each ossicle was created from the CT scan. Bone mineral density was then determined at specific sites on the ossicles. There was no statistically significant variation found in the bone mineral density in relation to the age of the specimens. However, the handle of the malleus, the incudo-stapedial joint and the insertion site for the tendon of stapedius had lower bone mineral densities when compared to adjacent articulation and nonattachment sites on the ossicular chain. This is possibly due to biomechanical stress in response to sound conduction rather than ageing. Lower bone mineral density may be indicative of regions that experience the highest biomechanical force, thus, resulting in increased remodeling. Clin. Anat. 31:1158-1166, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The long-distance acoustic signal has low energy, high concealment and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), thus is often submerged in noise and interference. The conventional method of acoustic detection cannot classify or recognize the target. A sound recognition method has been proposed to simulate human ear auditory process by making the best of sound recognition advantage of human ear. First of all, those parts which function as energy gathering, frequency-selective amplification or information transmission in human ear are selected, and the auditory model of each part is established independently. Then, the structural parameters of each model are extracted, and the influence and change rules of structural parameters on the auditory signal are studied and optimized according to the auditory law. Finally, the auditory model is reconstructed based on the parameters extracted from each component, and the integrated model is used to carry out the voice recognition experiment under low SNR. The recognition rate of low SNR (−5 dB) acoustic event is improved by 6.5%.

Introduction: There are various methods of ear wax extraction and there are no specific guidelines on this subject. Many times we ask patients to instil some wax softening product for a few days and revisit for wax removal. This revisits result in increased cost, discomfort and loss of time. We conducted this study to determine the effectiveness of same-day ear wax removal as an office procedure with one or more techniques. Our secondary objective was to find the association between various factors and successful wax removal. Methods: During the study period, all patients with ear wax managed by a single ENT surgeon were included. History and examination were done and findings noted. One or more methods including probe, forceps, hooks, curette, suction, wax softening with wax softening agents, syringing were applied for wax removal. Complete wax removal was noted as success. Results: There were a total of 63 cases of ear wax among 34 participants. Wax was successfully removed in 52 (82.5%) cases in the same day. Presence of ear ache, narrow canal, complete obstruction and hard dry wax were adversely associated with successful wax removal. Presence of ear fullness, ear discharge, or use of ear drops in home was not significantly associated with successful ear wax removal. Conclusion: We were able to extract wax from a large proportion of patients on the same day of visit, thereby reducing their cost of revisit, however there were 17.5% of cases who could not be treated successfully on the same day.

Sound and air pressure both have an important effect on the ear of human beings. In this paper, we established the finite element model of human middle ear to study the sound transmission mechanism and the stress of human ear under the three conditions of acoustic environment, low pressure acoustic environment and pressure fluctuation environment. Experiment and theoretical calculation were also done in the analysis process. The results show that the surface state of the tympanic membrane can reflect the human auditory sensation to a certain extent. Low pressure can reduce the acoustic energy into human ear, and pressure fluctuation leads the ear to bear great stress and temporary hearing loss. In this paper, the quantification of some objective factors is of great significance to the optimization of some standards and the decoupling of multi environmental effects.

Introduction: The human ear is divided into external, middle and internal ear. The auricle helps in the clinical diagnosis of congenital anomalies and syndromes. The aim of this study is to determine the mean auricular index from the right and left ears, mean measurements of left and right ear and sex-related dimensions of the ear. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in medical students studying at a tertiary care hospital during the period of 1st April 2019 to 20th May 2019 after ethical clearance from the institutional review committee. Simple random sampling was done. Data were collected, entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 and point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Out of total measurements done, we found the mean auricular index was found to be for right ear 51.75±4.51mm and for left ear 54.0996±4.95682mm at 95% CI (51.75-52.37) and (53.42654.766) respectively. The mean ear length, mean ear breadth, mean lobular length and mean lobular breadth were 57.62±5.03mm, 29.72±2.79mm, 19.32±2.60mm and 20.89±3.06mm on the right side and 57.89±4.89mm, 31.21±2.95mm, 19.38±2.55mm and 21.25±2.81mm on the left side respectively. Conclusions: The mean auricular index of the external ear of medical students was within the normal range as compared to the other studies conducted.

Some forms of triamcinolone may provide alternate options for local therapy of the inner ear in addition to the steroids currently in use. We compared the perilymph pharmacokinetics of triamcinolone-acetonide, triamcinolone, and dexamethasone, each delivered as crystalline suspensions to guinea pigs. Triamcinolone-acetonide is a widely used form of the drug with molecular properties that allow it to readily permeate biological barriers. When applied intratympanically triamcinolone-acetonide entered perilymph rapidly but was also found to be eliminated rapidly from perilymph. The rapid rate of elimination severely limits the apical distribution of the drug when applied locally, making it unsuitable for use in the ear. In contrast, triamcinolone, rather than triamcinolone-acetonide, is a more polar form of the molecule, with higher aqueous solubility but calculated to pass less-readily through biological boundaries. Perilymph concentrations generated with intratympanic applications of triamcinolone were comparable to those with triamcinolone-acetonide but elimination measurements showed that triamcinolone was retained in perilymph longer than triamcinolone-acetonide or dexamethasone. The slower elimination is projected to result in improved distribution of triamcinolone toward the cochlear apex, potentially allowing higher drug levels to reach the speech frequency regions of the human ear. These measurements show that triamcinolone could constitute an attractive additional treatment option for local therapy of auditory disorders.

Human ear recognition has attracted more attention in the past several years. In terms of the redundant information of Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG), this paper proposes a human ear recognition method in which the principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out on the HOG dimension reduction, then fused with local binary pattern (LBP) features. Using minimum distance classification for classification, experiments on USTB human ear image library shows that the proposed method improves the recognition rate and speeds up the training and detection.

Background External human ear is considered to be a highly variable structure showing different morphological and individualistic features in different individuals and population groups. The uniqueness of the ear may be useful in establishing the identity of individuals by direct examination, during the examination of CCTV footage or analysis of the ear prints. Considering the forensic significance of the human ear and ear prints encountered at the scene of the crime, the present study is an attempt to evaluate various morphological characteristics of the ear in a north Indian population. Methodology The sample for the present study comprises of 90 males and 87 females aged between 18 and 30 years. All the study participants were from upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh in North India. The morphological characteristics such as overall shape of the ear, size and shape of the tragus, earlobe, shape of the helix, and forms of Darwin’s tubercle were studied in the participants. Results The oval-shaped ear was present among 40% of the males and 44.8% of the females in the study sample. The other types of the ear such as oblique, rectangular, round, and triangular were also found in both sexes. Bilateral asymmetry was observed in the shape of the ear. The shape of the tragus also varied with respect to the left and right sides as well as sexes. The earlobe showed different characteristics in different individuals. In nearly half of the cases in both males and females, the earlobe was found to be attached to the face; in many cases, it was free and in some partially attached. The size and shape of the earlobe also showed variations with respect to sides as well as sexes. The Darwin’s tubercle showed a variety of structures in both the left and right sides in both sexes. Conclusion The present study shows that the individualistic characteristics of the ear can provide very useful information for personal identification in forensic examinations. The shape of the ear and the important structures such as the tragus, helix, earlobe, and Darwin’s tubercle show a variety of structures and individuality. The importance and variability of the human ear may encourage the researchers in conducting further studies and solving the forensic cases pertaining to the investigation of CCTV footage and in examination of dead in airplane crashes, intentional mutilation and dismemberment, explosions, or other mass disasters.

This chapter describes the sensitivity of the human ear to sound signals as corresponding to the A-weighting network, which is formed primarily by the total transfer function of the external canal, eardrum, bone chain, and the oval window.

Human tissues have a high coefficient of absorption in the 60–300 GHz range. This focuses the study of human radiation exposure in this band to the skin and the cornea. The capacity of 60–300 GHz radiation to access the deeper parts of the ear has not been studied. Simulations show that over 90 % of the radiation that is presented parallel to the ear canal penetrates to 20mm into the canal at 60 and 90 GHz. The structures of the outer ear are highly protective, reducing penetration to 20%. At 300 GHz, the canal develops areas of up to 190% of the incident intensity, reducing to 150% when the outer ear structures are represented. These findings have important implications for the design of devices emitting 60–300 GHz radiation.

The aim of this study was to investigate effect of radiofrequency radiation (RFR) emitted from mobile phones on DNA damage in follicle cells of hair in the ear canal. The study was carried out on 56 men (age range: 30-60 years old)in four treatment groups with n = 14 in each group. The groups were defined as follows: people who did not use a mobile phone (Control), people use mobile phones for 0-30 min/day (second group), people use mobile phones for 30-60 min/day (third group) and people use mobile phones for more than 60 min/day (fourth group). Ear canal hair follicle cells taken from the subjects were analyzed by the Comet Assay to determine DNA damages. The Comet Assay parameters measured were head length, tail length, comet length, percentage of head DNA, tail DNA percentage, tail moment, and Olive tail moment. Results of the study showed that DNA damage indicators were higher in the RFR exposure groups than in the control subjects. In addition, DNA damage increased with the daily duration of exposure. In conclusion, RFR emitted from mobile phones has a potential to produce DNA damage in follicle cells of hair in the ear canal. Therefore, mobile phone users have to pay more attention when using wireless phones.

The most internal part of the human ear, the inner ear, is essential for us to hear and have a sense of balance. It is formed by a complex series of connected cavities filled by a liquid. When sound waves and changes in the position of the body make this liquid move, specialized ‘hair’ cells can detect these subtle movements; neurons then relay this information to the brain where it is decoded and interpreted. For the inner ear to work properly, the body needs to finely regulate the pressure created by the liquid inside the cavities. For example, people with unstable pressure in their ears can experience deafness or problems with balance. A structure known as the endolymphatic sac, which is a balloon-like chamber connected to the rest of the inner ear by a thin tube, helps with this regulation. However, scientists are still unsure about how exactly the sac performs its role. One problem is that the inner ear is difficult to study because it is encased in one of the densest bones in the body. Many other animals also have inner ears, from fish to birds and mammals. Here, Swinburne et al. examine the inner ear of zebrafish embryos because, in this fish, the ear starts working before the bones around it form; the structure is therefore accessible for injections and microscopy. Experiments show that when the pressure in the inner ear rises, the endolymphatic sac slowly fills up with the ear liquid, and then it rapidly deflates. Fish with mutations that stop the sac from deflating have overinflated sacs, which is a symptom also found in certain patients with hearing and balance disorders. Looking into the details of these inflation-deflation cycles, Swinburne et al. found that the cells that form the sac have gaps between them, unlike a normal sheet of cells. A flap covers these gaps to keep the liquid in, but under pressure, the flap opens and the liquid can escape. These results show that the endolymphatic sac works as a pressure relief valve for the inner ear. Ultimately, understanding how pressure is regulated in the ear could help patients with inner ear disorders. It could also serve as a template to investigate how eyes, kidneys and the brain, which all have liquid-filled cavities, control their internal pressure.

Biometric authentication using human ear is a recent trend in security applications including access control, user recognition, surveillance, forensic, and border security systems. This paper aims to propose a fast and robust authentication scheme using ear biometric. In this work, a fast technique based on the AdaBoost algorithm is used to detect the ear of the user from profile images. An efficient stereo matching algorithm is used to match the user’s ear data (probe) to the previously enrolled (stored) ear data in a gallery database for verification and recognition. Correspondences are established between extracted features of the probe and gallery image sequences. The performance of the recognition approach is evaluated on different standard ear datasets and compared with other techniques. Experimental results suggest the superiority of the proposed approach over other popular techniques reported in this work.

Oto-acoustic emissions (OAEs) are an audiometric diagnostic test that allows quick objective measure of hair cell function in the inner ear. It is a reflection of hearing function at the interface of conductive and sensorineural components in the human ear. Unfortunately, it is not commonly used due to the unique expertise and niche equipment required to successfully carry it out. This article is to further shed light about the use of such tests to junior doctors so that such resources can be better utilised. It also reviews the current and possible future applications of OAEs at the frontiers in otology today.

OBJECTIVES To determine whether suprathreshold measures of auditory function, such as distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) and auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), are correlated with noise exposure history in normal-hearing human ears. Recent data from animal studies have revealed significant deafferentation of auditory nerve fibers after full recovery from temporary noise-induced hearing loss. Furthermore, these data report smaller ABR wave I amplitudes in noise-exposed animal ears when compared with non-noise-exposed control animals or prenoise exposure amplitudes in the same animal. It is unknown whether a similar phenomenon exists in the normal-hearing, noise-exposed human ear. DESIGN Thirty normal-hearing human subjects with a range of noise exposure backgrounds (NEBs) participated in this study. NEB was quantified by the use of a noise exposure questionnaire that extensively queried loud sound exposure during the previous 12 months. DPOAEs were collected at three f2s (1, 2, and 4 kHz) over a range of L2s. DPOAE stimulus level began at 80 dB forward-pressure level and decreased in 10 dB steps. Two-channel ABRs were collected in response to click stimuli and 4 kHz tone bursts; one channel used an ipsilateral mastoid electrode and the other an ipsilateral tympanic membrane electrode. ABR stimulus level began at 90 dB nHL and was decreased in 10 dB steps. Amplitudes of waves I and V of the ABR were analyzed. RESULTS A statistically significant relationship between ABR wave I amplitude and NEB was found for clicked-evoked ABRs recorded at a stimulus level of 90 dB nHL using a mastoid recording electrode. For this condition, ABR wave I amplitudes decreased as a function of NEB. Similar systematic trends were present for ABRs collected in response to clicks and 4 kHz tone bursts at additional suprathreshold stimulation levels (≥70 dB nHL). The relationship weakened and disappeared with decreases in stimulation level (≤60 dB nHL). Similar patterns were present for ABRs collected using a tympanic membrane electrode. However, these relationships were not statistically significant and were weaker and more variable than those collected using a mastoid electrode. In contrast to the findings for ABR wave I, wave V amplitude was not significantly related to NEB. Furthermore, there was no evidence of a systematic relationship between suprathreshold DPOAEs and NEB. CONCLUSIONS A systematic trend of smaller ABR wave I amplitudes was found in normal-hearing human ears with greater amounts of voluntary NEB in response to suprathreshold clicks and 4 kHz tone bursts. These findings are consistent with the data from previous work completed in animals, where the reduction in suprathreshold responses was a result of deafferentation of high-threshold/low-spontaneous rate auditory nerve fibers. These data suggest that a similar mechanism might be operating in human ears after exposure to high sound levels. However, evidence of this damage is only apparent when examining suprathreshold wave I amplitude of the ABR. In contrast, suprathreshold DPOAE level was not significantly related to NEB. This was expected, given noise-induced auditory damage findings in animal ears did not extend to the outer hair cells, the generator for the DPOAE response.

Automatic human ear detection has aroused great interest in biometrics community recently. Ear recognition has great potential in security application, especially it is a naturally complement to face recognition to strength identification recognition. Recent studies have shown that deep learning has achieved very good result in terms of object detection. In this article, we have proposed a practical method for human ear detection called FCNED. Firstly, we construct a human ear classifier based on convolutional neural network, and then transform it into a fully convolutional neural network. Finally, we utilize the sliding-window characteristic of the fully convolutional neural network for human ear detection. In order to improve the ear detection accuracy, the methods of multi-scale and NMS(non-maximum suppression) are also used in our paper. The results of experiment show that our method achieves a very good performance.

The reliability of nine measures of the stimulus level in the human ear canal was compared by measuring the sensitivity of behavioral hearing thresholds to changes in the depth of insertion of an otoacoustic emission probe. Four measures were the ear-canal pressure, the eardrum pressure estimated from it and the pressure measured in an ear simulator with and without compensation for insertion depth. The remaining five quantities were derived from the ear-canal pressure and the Thévenin-equivalent source characteristics of the probe: Forward pressure, initial forward pressure, the pressure transmitted into the middle ear, eardrum sound pressure estimated by summing the magnitudes of the forward and reverse pressure (integrated pressure) and absorbed power. Two sets of behavioral thresholds were measured in 26 subjects from 0.125 to 20 kHz, with the probe inserted at relatively deep and shallow positions in the ear canal. The greatest dependence on insertion depth was for transmitted pressure and absorbed power. The measures with the least dependence on insertion depth throughout the frequency range (best performance) included the depth-compensated simulator, eardrum, forward, and integrated pressures. Among these, forward pressure is advantageous because it quantifies stimulus phase.

Recognizing humans by their ear have recently received significant attention in the field of research. Ear is the rich in characteristics. The ear recognition does not suffer from some problems associated with other passive biometrics, such as face recognition and the ear shape very stable with respect to age. Further, the ear can be used for human recognition in surveillance videos where the face may be occluded completely or in part. This paper provides a detailed survey of research done in ear detection and recognition on 2D and 3D images respectively. This survey paper is very useful in the current state-of- art for those who are working in this area and also for those who might exploit this new approach.

The human ear is unique and stability and it has broad application prospects in the field of pattern recognition .In this paper, a novel ear recognition method based on differential geometry is proposed. Firstly, we get the normalization ear image through the image preprocessing. Secondly, according to the character of ear recognition, a method based on differential geometry was used to extract ear anatomy feature points. Finally, the best match is found from a database by using binary template matching. The proposed method can be performed automatically for subject recognition by using 2D ear intensity image. And it can efficiently overcome the influence of illumination and rotation change for ear recognition. Experimental results show that proposed method is simple, robust and better in accuracy and efficiency than previous methods.

An accurate finite element (FE) model of the human ear can help in understanding the physiological mechanismof human ear and facilitate the design of implantable hearing devices. In this paper,a FE modelof the human ear consisting of the external ear canal, middle ear, and cochlea was developed. The geometry of the external ear canal and middle ear model was based on a fresh specimen of human temporal boneviamicro-computer tomography imaging. A harmonic sound pressure of 90 dB SPL was applied in the ear canal and the multi-field coupled FE analysis was conductedamong the ear canal air, cochlea fluid, and middle ear and cochlea structures. The results were compared with the established physiological data. The satisfactory agreements between the model and published experimental measurementsindicate the middle ear and cochlea functions can be well simulated and further application in terms of human ear can be achieved by the model.

Ultrasound – Refers to sound waves with frequencies higher than 20 kHz, which is higher than the frequencies perceptible to the human ear.

A finite element (FE) model of the human ear including the ear canal, middle ear, and spiral cochlea was constructed from histological sections of human temporal bone. Multiphysics analysis of the acoustics, structure, and fluid coupling in the ear was conducted in the model. The viscoelastic material behavior was applied to the middle ear soft tissues based on dynamic measurements of tissues in our laboratory. The FE model was first validated using the experimental data obtained in human cadaver ears, and then used to investigate the efficiency of the forward and reverse mechanical driving with middle ear implant, and the passive vibration of basilar membrane (BM) with cochlear implant placed in the cochlear scala tympani. The middle ear transfer function and the cochlear function of the BM vibration were derived from the model. This comprehensive ear model provides a novel computational tool to visualize and compute the implantable hearing devices and surgical procedures.

The human ear canal amplifies the sound pressure level at specific frequency bands. The characteristics of the ear canal are very similar to those of curved cylindrical tube. In this study, the characteristics of sound transfer in human ear canal were measured and the acoustical space of ear canal was reproduced from the canal cavity geometry. For the measurement of sound transfer function in ear canal, a probe microphone and a reference microphone were used. The sound transfer functions were measured for 5 human subjects. To reproduce the acoustical space of the ear canal, two kinds of ear simulator were designed. The first one is a straight cylindrical tube type and the other is a real-shape ear of which geometry was taken from a micro-CT scanning of a human ear. The characteristics of the reproduced apparatus were compared with those of the human and a commercial ear simulator, RA0045 of G.R.A.S. Inc. The comparison results show that the developed apparatus well represent the ear canal characteristics in the low frequency, but have limited coincidence in level over high frequency range.

The cochlea transforms incoming sound pressure into vibrations of the basilar membrane which give rise to neural impulses. Although it has been an object of research for several decades, complete understanding of its behavior is far from complete. Many experiments on real cochlea and many mathematical models have been developed in the past decades. In the biophysical cochlear model of Mammano and Nobili [1, 2], both mechanical and hydrodynamical aspects are treated at a level adequate to the complexity of realistic cochlear structures. In this paper, we analyze the time-frequency resolution of this biophysical cochlear model: analysis is first applied to the passive cochlear model and then extended to the active nonlinear model. Further, we propose the method for signal reconstruction from the cochlear time-frequency response. When applied to active cochlear model response, it could result with the signal which human ear actually hears (with some spectral enhancements and noise suppression).

In this paper, we discuss the propagation of sound in the narrow pathways of an occluded-ear simulator typically used for the measurement of insert-type earphones. The simulator has a standardized frequency response conforming to the international standard (IEC60318-4). In narrow pathways, the speed and phase of sound waves are modified by viscous air damping. In our previous paper, we proposed a new finite element method (FEM) to consider the effects of air viscosity in this type of audio equipment. In this study, we will compare the results from the ear simulator FEM model, and those from a three dimensional human ear canal FEM model made from computed tomography images, with the measured frequency response data from the ear canals of 18 people., {"references":["IEC60318-4, IEC standard, Simulators of human head and ear - Part 4: Occluded-ear simulator for the measurement of earphones coupled to the ear by means of ear inserts 2010.","M. Sasajima, T. Yamaguchi, and A. Hara, \"Acoustic Analysis Using Finite Element Method Considering Effects of Damping Caused by Air Viscosity in Audio Equipment,\" Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 36, pp. 282–286, 2010.","M. Sasajima, T. Yamaguchi, M. Watanabe, Y. Koike, \"FEM Analysis of Occluded Ear Simulator with Narrow Slit Pathway,\" International Journal of Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, Mechatronic and Manufacturing Engineering vol. 9, No.9, pp. 1430-1433, 2015.","M. A. Biot, \"Theory of propagation of elastic waves in a fluid-saturated porous solid. I. Low-frequency range,\" Journal of Acoustical Society of America, vol. 28, pp. 168–178, 1956.","M. A. Biot, \"Theory of propagation of elastic waves in a fluid-saturated porous solid. II. Higher-frequency range,\" Journal of Acoustical Society of America, vol. 28, pp. 179–191, 1956.","T. Yamaguchi, \"Approximated calculation to damping properties of a closed sound field involving porous materials(proposal of a fast calculation procedure for model damping and damped response),\" Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Series C, vol. 66, no. 648, pp. 2563–2569, 2000.","T. Yamaguchi, H. Nakamoto, Y. Kurosawa, and S. Matsumura \"Finite element analysis for damping properties of sound-proof structures having solid body, porous media and air,\" Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Series A, vol. 69, no. 677, pp. 34–41, 2003.","T. Yamaguchi, J. Tsugawa, H. Enomoto, and Y. Kurosawa, \"Layout of Sound Absorbing Materials in 3D Rooms Using Damping Contributions with Eigenvectors as Weight Coefficients,\" Journal of System Design and Dynamics, vol. 4-1, pp. 166–176, 2010.","T. Yamaguchi, Y. Kurosawa, and H. Enomoto, \"Damped Vibration Analysis Using Finite Element Method with Approximated Modal Damping for Automotive Double Walls with a Porous Material,\" Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 325, pp. 436–450, 2009."]}

The uniqueness of human ear and hence its utility for identification of individuals has been postulated. There is however, no published data that establishes each individual's ear is different and distinct, and that an individual can be identified conclusively from comparison of the ear. Data presented in this study indicate that comparison of ear based on morphological examination can be used as a corroborative evidence.

Consonance and dissonance are subjective perceptions that are reactions of the human ear to whether or not musical intervals sound 'pleasing.' The physical causes of consonance and dissonance are not as well understood as other subjective properties of sound perceived by the ear such as pitch, loudness, and quality (timbre). What follows is an overview of some attempts to quantify these sensations, and a new study with results that can be compared to several 'dissonance metrics'.

Facial image identification has become important in forensic science because surveillance cameras are popularly used as silent witnesses at potential crime scenes. In general, three methods are used for facial image identification: morphological comparison of facial features, facial image anthropometry and face-to-face superimposition. The most commonly employed method in actual casework is morphological comparison based on the morphological classification of facial components such as facial types, eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips and ears. However, classification for ear morphology has not been developed, except for the ear lobe. The human ear has various anatomical parts, including the helix, antihelix, tragus, antitragus, scaphoid fossa, and ear lobe. The present study was designed to develop a new classification system for the ear. Ear images obtained from 164 Japanese adult males (n=94, age range: 24-60) and females (n=70, age range: 20-54) were used for establishing the morphological classification. In general, the features of the ear are very easily influenced by camera angle, which usually make it difficult to compare facial images taken with surveillance cameras to mug shots in actual casework. In our previous study, however, it was suggested that some components of the ear are little affected by camera angles if the scaphoid fossa could be found on the image even though the external acoustic meatus could not be found. Therefore, the morphological characteristics of some components such as the antihelix, tragus, antitragus, scaphoid fossa, and ear lobe were observed in the ear images from all persons, and morphological classification items for those components were established. All data classified according to these items were analyzed to obtain their frequency distribution in each component and to clarify the correlation between morphological characteristics. The results revealed that some morphological characteristics in each component were significantly correlated. The present classification system for ear morphology would be useful for facial image identification.

Ear detection in an image processing is the one of the important area in biometrics. In this paper we propose a human ear detection algorithm with side face images. First, we search a face candidate area in an input image by using skin-color model and try to find an ear area based on Haar-like feature. Then, to verity whether it is the ear area or not, we use the template which is excellent object classification compare to recognize the characters in the plate. In this experiment, the proposed method showed that the processing speed is improved by 60% than previous works and the detection success rate is 92%.

Lesion of ossicular chain is a common ear disease impairing the sense of hearing. A comprehensive numerical model of human ear can provide better understanding of sound transmission. In this study, we propose a three-dimensional finite element model of human ear that incorporates the canal, tympanic membrane, ossicular bones, middle ear suspensory ligaments/muscles, middle ear cavity and inner ear fluid. Numerical analysis is conducted and employed to predict the effects of middle ear cavity, malleus handle defect, hypoplasia of the long process of incus, and stapedial crus defect on sound transmission. The present finite element model is shown to be reasonable in predicting the ossicular mechanics of human ear.

A preliminary study has been undertaken to test the individuality of human ear patterns and its probable use in profile view facial image recognition. Anthropometric measurements on 12 inter-landmark linear distances have been carried out for both left and right ears of 700 male and female individuals. A 12-dimensional feature space has been framed to represent each ear pattern as a feature vector with the measured inter-landmark distances as its components. The Euclidean distances in such a feature space amongst all possible pairs of ear patterns of both male and female individuals have been computed. Very few pairs have distances which fell below the safe distinction limit. The undistinguished pairs were further examined by direct superimposition of their images. None of the ear patterns is found to be exactly the same in morphology to the other. Even the left and right ears of the same individual are not identical. Thus, the present study reconfirms the individuality of ear patterns. For establishment of identity, a questioned profile view facial image can be compared with a control one on the basis of the ear pattern visible in it.

The contribution of human ear canal orientation to tympanic membrane (TM) surface motion and sound pressure distribution near the TM surface is investigated by using an artificial ear canal (aEC) similar in dimensions to the natural human ear canal. The aEC replaced the bony ear canal of cadaveric human temporal bones. The radial orientation of the aEC relative to the manubrium of the TM was varied. Tones of 0.2 to 18.4 kHz delivered through the aEC induced surface motions of the TM that were quantified using stroboscopic holography; the distribution of sound in the plane of the tympanic ring P TR was measured with a probe tube microphone. The results suggest that the ear canal orientation has no substantial effect on TM surface motions, but P TR at frequencies above 10 kHz is influenced by the ear canal orientation. The complex TM surface motion patterns observed at frequencies above a few kilohertz are not correlated with simpler variations in P TR distribution at the same frequencies, suggesting that the complex sound-induced TM motions are more related to the TM mechanical properties, shape, and boundary conditions rather than to spatial variations in the acoustic stimulus.

The human ear seems to be a rigid anatomical part with no apparent activity, yet many facial and body activity can be measured from it. Research apparatuses and commercial products have demonstrated the capability of monitoring hart rate, tongue activities, jaw motion and eye blinking from the ear. In this paper we describe the design and the implementation of the Outer Ear Interface (OEI) which utilizes a set of infrared proximity sensors to measure the deformation in the ear canal caused by the lower jaw movement. OEI has been used in different applications that requires tracking of jaw activity which includes silent speech recognition, jaw gesture detection and food intake monitoring.

The human ear is a new feature in biometrics that has several merits over the more common face, fingerprint and iris biometrics. It can be easily captured from a distance without a fully cooperative subject. Also, the ear has a relatively stable structure that does not change much with the age and facial expressions. In this paper, we present a novel method of 3D ear acquisition system by using triangulation imaging principle, and the experiment results show that this design is efficient and can be used for ear recognition.

Sheep are a potentially useful model for otologic surgical training and experimentation, currently limited by the scarcity of morphological comparisons between the structure of the ear in sheep and in humans. A detailed morphometric study of the ear in sheep was carried out using computed tomography. Measurements made with AutoCAD Release 14 were compared with measurements for the human ear reported in the literature. In general, ear structures in sheep are two-thirds the size of those in humans. The important anatomical similarities found in this study between the ear in sheep and in humans suggest that sheep may be a useful model for surgical training and experimentation in some middle ear procedures. Clin. Anat. 19:503–509, 2006. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Ear detection is an important part of an non-invasive ear recognition system. In this paper we propose human ear detection from side face images. The proposed method is made by imitating the human recognition process using feature information and color information. First, we search face candidate area in an input image by using `skin-color model` and try to find an ear area based on edge information. Then, to verify whether it is the ear area or not, we use the SVM (Support Vector Machine) based on a statistical theory. The method shows high detection ratio in indoors environment with stable illumination.

Previous research conducted into the use of the human ear in the fizeld of forensic identification has focused upon the use of grids and manual methods to measure and catalogue the different anatomical features of the ear. To date, few have considered the importance of the presence of ear piercings and their possible role in human identification. This study aims to highlight the common distribution of piercings of both ears in both genders and to explore the effect of piercings on earprints. The presence of a piercing may, in part, help to explain why partial and not whole earprints are sometimes recovered from a scene of crime (suggesting that the offender's ears may be pierced). The presence of piercings through the tragus and the superior part of the helix are shown to be infrequent and thus may be used to assist the identification of a body, due to its relative rarity with respect to piercings found in other areas of the ear.