Centers & Groups
Consortiums
CSM Affiliates Modeling & Control Reports FacilitiesLeszek Demkowicz | View profile
Hearing impairment remains the primary disability among military personnel. Sound pressure levels caused by proximity to aircraft engines or impulse noise from large caliber weapons may easily exceed the pain threshold value of 100 dB.
The focus of this project is to to develop a reliable numerical model for investigating the bone-conducted sound in the human head. The problem is difficult because of a lack of fundamental knowledge regarding the transmission of acoustic energy through non-airborne pathways to the cochlea. A fully coupled model based on the acoustic/elastic interaction problem with a detailed resolution of the cochlea region and its interface with the skull and the air pathways, should provide an insight into this fundamental, long standing research problem.
The project builds on an interaction of experts in numerical wave propagation -- Drs. Elisabeth and Marek Bleszynski from Monopole Research with a team at the University of Texas headed by Dr. Leszek Demkowicz and including two experts on wave propagation and hearing science: Dr. Mark Hamilton and Dr. Craig Champlin.
Distribution of pressure over a head model