Speech-perception characteristics of bone-conducted sounds presented to the facial parts by monosyllable articulation tests.

Bone-conducted (BC) sounds are mainly presented to the mastoid process of the temporal bone or condyle process of the mandible. However, BCsounds presentation to the face such as the nasal bone has also been investigated. As the face has complex structures of the human body, slight differences in the presentation parts will also change perception and propagation mechanism. To assess the speechperception characteristics, we conducted monosyllable articulation tests in Japanese when BC sounds were presented to facial parts (nasal, infraorbital region, zygomatic, jaw angle, and chin), and compared with air-conducted sounds and conventional parts (mastoid and condyle processes). The results suggest that, at least in the parts investigated in the current study, the intelligibility of the facial parts was about the same as those of the conventional parts. These results indicate that practical speech perception is possible with BC devices using the facial parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]