Acoustic impedances of ear canals measured by impedance tube

During hearing sensitivity tests, the sound field is commonly generated by an earphone placed on a subject ear. One of the factors that can affect the sound transmission in the ear is the acoustic impedance of the ear canal. Its importance is related to the contribution of other elements involved in the transmission such as the earphone impedance. In order to determine the acoustic impedances of human ear canals, the standardized method for measurement of complex impedances used for the measurement of the audiometric earphone impedances is applied. It is based on the transfer function between two microphone locations in an impedance tube. The end of the tube representing the measurement plane is placed at the ear canal entrance. Thus, the impedance seen from the entrance inward is measured on 25 subjects. Most subjects participated in the previous measurement of the ratio between the pressures at the open and blocked ear canal entrance related to the ratio of the earphone and ear canal impedance. The results from present investigation are in good agreement with the existing data and they are going to be further analysed together with the previously obtained results.