Abstract：
Poor utilization of earplugs among military personnel may be due to discomfort caused by the occlusion effect (OE). The OE occurs when an earplug occludes the ear canal, thereby changing bone conduction (BC) hearing and amplifying physiological noises from the wearer. There is a need to understand and reduce the OE in the human ear. A 3D finite element model of the human ear including a 3-chambered spiral cochlea was employed to simulate the OE caused by foam and aerogel earplugs. 90 dB sound pressure was applied at the ear canal entrance and BC sound was applied as vibration of the canal bony wall. The model reported the ear canal pressure and the displacements of the stapes footplate and cochlear basilar membrane with and without earplugs. Without BC stimulation, the foam earplug showed a greater pressure attenuation than the aerogel earplug. However, the foam earplug results were more affected by BC stimulation, with a maximum sound pressure increase of 34 dB, compared to the 21.0 dB increase with the aerogel earplug. The aerogel earplug\'s lower OE demonstrates its promise as an earplug material. Future work with this model will examine BC sound transmission in the cochlea.
摘要：
军事人员中耳塞的不良利用可能是由于闭塞效应（OE）引起的不适。OE发生在耳塞堵塞耳道时，从而改变骨传导(BC)听力并放大来自佩戴者的生理噪声。需要理解和减少人耳中的OE。采用包括3腔螺旋耳蜗的人耳的3D有限元模型来模拟由泡沫和气凝胶耳塞引起的OE。在耳道入口处施加90dB声压,并且施加BC声音作为耳道骨壁的振动。该模型报告了耳道压力以及有无耳塞的the脚底板和耳蜗基底膜的位移。没有BC刺激,泡沫耳塞比气凝胶耳塞显示更大的压力衰减。然而,泡沫耳塞结果受BC刺激的影响更大，最大声压增加34dB，与气凝胶耳塞增加21.0dB相比。气凝胶耳塞的低OE证明了其作为耳塞材料的前景。该模型的未来工作将检查耳蜗中的BC声音传输。
