Development of binaural hearing aid using a new sound transmission route (cartilage conduction)

• Project/Area Number: 24791799
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Otorhinolaryngology
• Research Institution: Shimane University (2014-2015); Nara Medical University (2012-2013)
• Principal Investigator: Shimokura Ryota 島根大学, 総合理工学研究科(研究院), 助教 (90455428)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: 実験系心理学 / 解析・評価 / 電子デバイス・機器 / 医療・福祉

Outline of Final Research Achievements

An aim of this study is to evaluate binaural hearing effects (sound localization and improved speech intelligibility under noisy condition) and improve an existing cartilage hearing aid for a practical use of the binaural cartilage conduction hearing aid. The sound localization examination showed that cartilage conduction sound could make users known the sound arrival direction as accurate as the air conduction sound. And the speech intelligibility examination in noisy condition showed that the cartilage conducted speech was harder to be caught due to a shortage of sound energy in a low frequency range (< 300 Hz). So we replaced a previous piezo-electric transducer with an electromagnetic one for the sake of more amplified output in the same range. Owing to the improvement, some hearing-impaired participants using the new cartilage conduction hearing aid could hear speech even in the crowd.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] 大学病院内で行われる補聴器に関する研究開発 ―患者の”聞こえる”を聞くために― (2015)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太
  • Journal Title: 情報処理学会研究報告 Volume: 4 Pages: 1-4
  • Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Simulating cartilage conduction sound to estimate the sound pressure level in the external auditory canal (2015)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, T. Iwakura, T. Yamanaka
  • Journal Title: Journal of Sound and Vibration Volume: 35 Pages: 261-268
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.jsv.2014.09.021
  • Peer Reviewed / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Cartilage conduciton is charcterized by vibrations of the cartilaginous portion of the ear canal (2015)
  • Author(s): T. Nishimura, H. Hosoi, O. Saito, R. Miyamae, R. Shimokura, T. Yamanaka, T. Kitahara, H. Levitt
  • Journal Title: PLOS ONE Volume: 未定
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] An examination of the effects of broadhand air-conduction masker on the speech intelligibility of speech-modulated bone-conduction ultrasound (2015)
  • Author(s): T. Nishimura, T. Okayasu, O. Saito, R. Shimokura, A. Yamashita, T. Yamanaka, T. Kitahara
  • Journal Title: Hearing Research Volume: 未定
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Cartilage conduction efficiently generates airborne sound in the ear canal (2015)
  • Author(s): T. Nishimura, H. Hosoi, O. Saito, R. Miyamae, R. Shimokura, T. Matsui, T. Yamanaka, T. Kitahara, H. Levitt
  • Journal Title: Auris Nasus Larynx Volume: 未定
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Cartilage conduction hearing (2014)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, T. Yamanaka, H. Levitt
  • Journal Title: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Volume: 135 Issue: 4 Pages: 1959-1966
  • DOI: 10.1121/1.4868372
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Evaluation of speech intelligibility in short-reverberant sound fields (2014)
  • Author(s): Shimokura R, Matsui T, Takaki Y, Nishimura T, et al
  • Journal Title: Auris Nasus Larynx Volume: 41 Issue: 4 Pages: 343-349
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.anl.2013.12.013
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Is cartilage conduction classified into air or bone conduction? (2014)
  • Author(s): Nishimura T, Hosoi H, Osamu S, et al
  • Journal Title: The laryngoscope Volume: 124 Issue: 5 Pages: 1214-1219
  • DOI: 10.1002/lary.24485
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Sound transmission of cartilage conduction in the ear with fibrotic aural atresia (2014)
  • Author(s): C. Morimoto, T. Nishimura, H. Hosoi, O. Saito, F. Fukuda, R. Shimokura, T. Yamanaka
  • Journal Title: Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development Volume: 未定
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Evaluation of a short reverberant sound field using syllable intelligibility and listening difficulty under multitalker babble (2014)
  • Author(s): T. Matsui, S. Yanai, R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi
  • Journal Title: Acoustical Science and Technology Volume: 未定
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Aural cartilage vibration and sound measured in the external auditory canal for several transducer positions (2013)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, T. Yamanaka
  • Journal Title: Journal of Temporal Design in Architecture and the Environment Volume: 12 Pages: 137-143
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Development of monaural and binaural behind-the-ear cartilage conduction hearing aids (2013)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Iwakura, T. Nishimura, and T. Matsui
  • Journal Title: Applied Acoustics Volume: 未定 Issue: 11 Pages: 1234-1240
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.apacoust.2013.04.013
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Benefit of a new hearing device utilizing cartilage conduction (2013)
  • Author(s): T. Nishimura, H. Hosoi, O. Saito, R. Miyamae, R. Shimokura, T. Matsui and T. Iwakura
  • Journal Title: Auris Nasus Larynx Volume: 未定
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] A case study of auditory rehabilitation in a profoundly deaf participant using a bone-conducted ultrasonic hearing aid (2012)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, F. Fukuda, and H. Hosoi
  • Journal Title: Behavioral Science Research Volume: 50 Pages: 1-12
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（第15報）―軟骨伝導補聴器に対する内観報告― (2015)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、細井裕司、西村忠己、齋藤修、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第60回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 京王プラザホテル
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-21
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（第14報）―感音難聴者の語音明瞭度― (2015)
  • Author(s): 宮前了輔、西村忠己、細井裕司、齋藤修、下倉良太、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第60回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 京王プラザホテル
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-21
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の適応について (2015)
  • Author(s): 西村忠己、細井裕司、斉藤修、宮前了輔、下倉良太、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第60回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 京王プラザホテル
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-21
• [Presentation] 先天性外耳道閉鎖症小児例に対する軟骨伝導補聴器のフィッティング (2015)
  • Author(s): 西村忠己、細井裕司、齋藤修、下倉良太、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第25回日本耳科学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 長崎ブリックホール
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-07
• [Presentation] 劣化語音を用いた低残響空間の語音明瞭度評価 (2015)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太
  • Organizer: 2015年度日本建築学会（関東）全国大会
  • Place of Presentation: 東海大学（湘南）
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-05
• [Presentation] 大学病院内で行われる補聴器に関する研究開発 ―患者の”聞こえる”を聞くために― (2015)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太
  • Organizer: 音学シンポジウム2015
  • Place of Presentation: 電気通信大学（調布）
  • Year and Date: 2015-05-23
  • Invited
• [Presentation] BAHA装用者における軟骨伝導補聴器の効果 (2015)
  • Author(s): 西村忠己、細井裕司、下倉良太、北原糺、岩倉行志、中市真理子、綿貫敬介
  • Organizer: 第116回日本耳鼻咽喉科学会
  • Place of Presentation: 東京国際フォーラム
  • Year and Date: 2015-05-20
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導のメカニズム・特性を調べる基礎研究 (2015)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太
  • Organizer: 日本音響学会2015年春季研究発表会
  • Place of Presentation: 中央大学後楽園キャンパス（東京）
  • Year and Date: 2015-03-16 – 2018-03-18
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Comparison of simulation models for cartilage conduciton sound (2015)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, H. Levitt, T. Kitahara
  • Organizer: American Auditory Society Scientific and Technology Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: Chaparral Suites Scottsdale (Phoenix, US)
  • Year and Date: 2015-03-04 – 2015-03-07
• [Presentation] Benefit of cartilage conduction hearing aids to aural atresia (2015)
  • Author(s): T. Nishimura, H. Hosoi, R. Shimokura, O. Saito, T. Kitahara, H. Levitt
  • Organizer: American Auditory Society Scientific and Technology Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: Chaparral Suites Scottsdale (Phoenix, US)
  • Year and Date: 2015-03-04 – 2015-03-07
• [Presentation] こんなに騒がしいポスター会場でも聴き取り可能な軟骨伝導受話器の開発 (2014)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太
  • Organizer: 日本音響学会関西支部第17回若手研究者交流研究発表会
  • Place of Presentation: 関西大学百年会館（大阪府、吹田市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-12-14
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（第11報）―振動子接触圧による言葉の聞こえの変化― (2014)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、細井裕司、西村忠己、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第59回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 海峡メッセ（山口県、下関市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-11-27 – 2014-11-28
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（第13報）―注水により外耳道を閉鎖したときの軟骨伝導閾値― (2014)
  • Author(s): 西村忠己、細井裕司、斉藤修、宮前了輔、下倉良太、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第59回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 海峡メッセ（山口県、下関市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-11-27 – 2014-11-28
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（第12報）―軟骨伝導の周波数特性と語音明瞭度― (2014)
  • Author(s): 宮前了輔、西村忠己、細井裕司、齋藤修、下倉良太、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第59回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 海峡メッセ（山口県、下関市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-11-27 – 2014-11-28
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の先天性外耳道閉鎖症での効果 (2014)
  • Author(s): 西村忠己、細井裕司、齋藤修、下倉良太、北原糺
  • Organizer: 第24回日本耳科学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 朱鷺メッセ（新潟県、新潟市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-10-15 – 2014-10-18
• [Presentation] 言語聴覚士が支える軟骨伝導補聴器の開発 (2014)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、齋藤修、細井裕司、西村忠己
  • Organizer: 日本音響学会2014年秋季研究発表会
  • Place of Presentation: 北海学園大学豊平キャンパス（北海道、札幌市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-03 – 2014-09-05
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Intelligibility of carilage conduction speech in environmental noises (2014)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, O. Saito
  • Organizer: 11th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem
  • Place of Presentation: 奈良県新公会堂（奈良県、奈良市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-06-01 – 2014-06-05
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（7） ‐電磁型軟骨伝導補聴器の性能評価‐ (2014)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、細井裕司、西村忠己、岩倉行志、津田直紀、中市真理子
  • Organizer: 第115回日本耳鼻咽喉科学会
  • Place of Presentation: ヒルトン福岡（福岡県、福岡市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-05-14 – 2014-05-17
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（8） ‐試作軟骨伝導補聴器の臨床評価‐ (2014)
  • Author(s): 西村忠己、細井裕司、下倉良太、岩倉行志、津田直紀、中市真理子
  • Organizer: 第115回日本耳鼻咽喉科学会
  • Place of Presentation: ヒルトン福岡（福岡県、福岡市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-05-14 – 2014-05-17
• [Presentation] Development of cartilage conduction hearing aid (5) -Electromagnetic cartilage conduction transducer- (2014)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, T. Iwakura, T. Yamanaka
  • Organizer: Midwinter Research Meeting of Association for Research in Otolaryngology
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego, US
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（５） ‐電磁型軟骨伝導振動子‐ (2013)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、細井裕司、西村忠己、松井淑恵、岩倉行志
  • Organizer: 第114回日本耳鼻咽喉科学会
  • Place of Presentation: 札幌
• [Presentation] Acoustic measurement on transmission of cartilage-conduction sound (2013)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, T. Matusi
  • Organizer: 20th International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (IFOS) World congress
  • Place of Presentation: Seoul, Korea
• [Presentation] Relationship between intelligibility and autocorrelation factors of Japanese monosyllables (2013)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, S. Akasaka, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, T. Matsui
  • Organizer: 21th International Congress on Acoustics
  • Place of Presentation: Montreal, Canada
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（第8報） －振動子の接触圧と外耳道内音圧レベルの関係－ (2013)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、細井裕司、西村忠己
  • Organizer: 第58回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 松本
• [Presentation] Cartilage conduction sound amplified by changing contact pressure of transducer (2013)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Nishimura, T. Matsui
  • Organizer: 6th International Symposium on Temporal Design
  • Place of Presentation: Taipei, Taiwan
• [Presentation] Development of cartilage conduction hearing aid (3) -Monosyllable intelligibility in the noisy condition- (2013)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, H. Hosoi, T. Matsui and T. Nishimura
  • Organizer: The Midwinter Research Meeting of Association for Research in Otolaryngology
  • Place of Presentation: Baltimore, USA
• [Presentation] Development of cartilage conduction hearing aid -Evaluation of bone conduction pathway- (2012)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, T. Matsui, T. Nishimura and H. Hosoi
  • Organizer: 14th Korea-Japan Joint meeting Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
  • Place of Presentation: Kyoto, Japan
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（４） ‐軟骨骨導音の評価‐ (2012)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、松井淑恵、西村忠己、細井裕司
  • Organizer: 第113回日本耳鼻咽喉科学会
  • Place of Presentation: 新潟
• [Presentation] Advantages of cartilage sound conduction in hearing aids (2012)
  • Author(s): R. Shimokura, T. Matsui, T. Nishimura and H. Hosoi
  • Organizer: The 2012 ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering
  • Place of Presentation: Kobe, Japan
• [Presentation] 軟骨伝導補聴器の開発（第7報） ‐騒音下での語音聴取‐ (2012)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太、松井淑恵、西村忠己、細井裕司
  • Organizer: 第57回日本聴覚医学会総会・学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都
• [Book] ラットの行動解析ハンドブック、第43章 精神医学モデル・第44章 神経心理学テスト (2015)
  • Author(s): 下倉良太
  • Total Pages: 435
  • Publisher: 西村書店
• [Patent(Industrial Property Rights)] 耳軟骨の伝導音の予測装置及びその方法 (2014)
  • Inventor(s): 下倉良太、細井裕司
  • Industrial Property Rights Holder: 下倉良太、細井裕司
  • Industrial Property Rights Type: 特許
  • Industrial Property Number: 2014-167848
  • Filing Date: 2014-08-20