9/2/2012

IE2150Week5
Feb13142012
Hearing,Sound,Noise,and
Vibration
TanKayChuan
Dept ofISE,NUS

AnatomyoftheHumanEar
Outerear
Pinna
Auditorycanal

Middleear
Tympanicmembrane
Malleus,incus,stapes
Tensortympanimuscle

Innerear
Cochlea
OrganofCorti
Roundwindow

**Properties of low freq sounds different from high freq sounds

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Amplifies/'focuses'
the sound; allows u
to know the source
of the sound

Hammer

promotes
increasing
the sound
by 10-15 dB

Anvil
Stirrup

funnel: Not
in use in some
industrial settings

low -> high

"middle ear"
Stirrup/

Hammer/

Anvil/

"Inner Ear"

"outer ear"

If haircells in a
certain region dies,
hearing of sounds
of that particular
freq degenerates
vibrates & transmits
sound through
- malleus, incus, stapes

1 - 4 kHz most
prone to dying out:
b'cos they're
most common

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air cavity

Sinuses

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Noise Induced Deafness ("insidious"):

Hearing Loss (more difficult to detect)

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Artificial vibrator
(vibrates ear bones
to transmit sound)

when hearing loss

occurs in the middle ear

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Sound:ItsNatureandMeasurement
Noiseandsounddefined
Mechanicalnoises,electronicnoises
Soundsofnature
Vibrationnoises
Humanvoice
Socialnoises,worknoises

Frequency&frequencyresponse
Soundpressurelevel(SPL)

to make a sound
"stand out":
>= 80dB

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Not enough to discuss about decibels (dB);

need to know the frequency (Hz)

standard: 1kHz at 0dB

20uPa: softest sound that human can hear

Can Hear

Cannot Hear

1kHz - 4kHz

PsychophysicalIndicesofSound
ThePhon scale
TheSone scale

NoiseandHearingLoss
Audiometryortestingofhearingloss
Hearinglosssurvey
Presbycusis ageing
Sociocusis environment: (i) workplace, (ii) social
Nosocusis others (eg.): accident/birth defect

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Phon Scale: Equal Loudness Curve

40dB, 1kHz sounds as loud as 75dB, 30Hz

Phon toSone Conversion

internal

sone

twice as bad

16

32

64

128

256

512

1024

phon 40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

*regardless of frequency
- does not give you the measure of how bad it is

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Audiogram

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SoundLevelMeter
Variousfeaturesofasoundlevelmeter(SLM)
Microphone
Amplifier
Display
Frequencyspectrumanalyzer

Weighingnetworks
A,B,C,Dandotherscales

Dosimeters(dosagemeters)

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OccupationalHearingLoss
Continuousnoise
Temporaryhearingloss
Temporarythresholdshift(maxis25dB,TTS2)

Permanenthearingloss (NID,NIHL,NIPHL)

Noncontinuousnoise
Impactnoise
Impulse noise

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NoiseExposureLimits
OSHAsPermissibleNoiseExposureLimits
Timeweightedaverage(TWA)
Leq
Ldn
Lden

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HearingProtectiveDevices(HPDs)

Earplugs
Earcanalcaps
Earmuffs
SpecializedHPDs

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