by George Frye
Background
Zwislocki built an ear simulator coupler years ago to better approximate the real ear’s impedance variation with frequency. The ear’s volume appears to get larger at lower frequencies. Mahlon Burkhard at Industrial Research Products agreed with this approach, especially when they built the KEMAR, and designed an ear simulator that had impedance changes that matched the Zwislocki figures. This ear simulator was later standardized by the publication of American National Standards Association standard, S3.25. Another ear simulator that has similar characteristics was introduced in Europe a few years later by Bruel and Kjaer, and is characterized in the standard IEC 711.
Frye Electronics introduced a slightly different approach in the 1980’s when it came out with the INSITU option (and later, the OES option) for its 5500-Z hearing aid Analyzer. Realizing that ear simulators which contain frequency sensitive elements are somewhat fragile and can be damaged as they are handled in every day use, Frye made a coupler which it labeled the MZ (for Modified Zwislocki). This coupler had a central volume very similar to the standardized Zwislocki, but had no frequency sensitive elements. Instead, an analyzer program was used with the coupler to apply correction factors to the measured curves from the hearing aid so that the output was very similar to that which would be obtained if the aid were tested on a standardized ear simulator as built by Knowles or B&K.
These software corrections work well for most regions in the frequency response of the aid. In low frequency areas up to about 1500 Hz, if the aid has a response peak that is influenced by the volume of the cavity, the peak will be slightly higher in amplitude and slightly higher in frequency than that peak would be if the aid were measured in a standardized ear simulator. The CIC hearing aid is not usually affected by this problem.
The Need for a CIC Coupler
The introduction of the CIC hearing aids has made it desirable to be able to test them with a coupler that more closely approximates the actual volume and frequency response characteristics of the real ear. The CIC aid fits so close to the tympanic membrane (TM) of the ear that the volume of the cavity is reduced greatly and the aid produces a significant amount more gain. Further, its response can be expected to be substantially influenced by the frequency dependent impedance variations of the TM.
Frye Electronics felt that the use of a CIC coupler with a proper response correction would give better data to a hearing professional than the use of the standard 2 cc coupler or even a Zwislocki ear simulator when attempting to produce a good hearing aid fitting. It also felt that the approach taken in the use of the MZ coupler has been well accepted by professionals throughout the world and that the new CIC coupler should use a similar approach, with response corrections modified to take the smaller CIC volume into account.
The Basic Problem
The ear is not a simple structure. It is a biological coupling device that converts sound energy to nerve impulses. It also has a pinna that helps to direct higher frequency sounds into the external canal. The part of the structure we are concerned with is the external ear canal or cavity which is terminated by the TM. The ear canal can be considered to be fairly rigid when it is compared to the TM. In the lower frequencies below 2000 to 3000 Hz, the frequency related changes in impedance that we see in an ear can be thought to be mostly caused by the TM. When we reduce the volume of the cavity between the hearing aid and the TM by moving the aid closer to it, we should expect to see the TM play a more important part in determining the response of the aid.
For more shallow standard earmolds, the volume of the central cavity of the ear reduces the effect of the TM’s frequency impedance changes. This is because the volume of the cavity is added to the equivalent volume of the TM. If the cavity volume is large and does not change with frequency, then the large changes in impedance of the TM are swamped by the large volume of the ear canal. If, on the other hand, the TM is working into a very small volume, then it would affect a large change in impedance across the frequency range.
CIC Hearing Aid–Gain and Frequency Response Changes
From the above discussion we see that we can expect that the frequency response of the CIC hearing aid will be greatly influenced by the frequency dependent impedance changes of the TM. What is the magnitude of these changes? A fairly typical ear fitted with a standard hearing aid and earmold should have characteristics that would normally be predicted by a KEMAR manikin and standardized ear simulator. When that ear is fitted with a CIC aid, what is the volume between the hearing aid and the TM? Because of the tilt of the TM, most professionals probably don’t fit the aid right next to the TM. A reasonable figure may be 0.25 cubic centimeters. It should be realized that this number could be higher or lower, depending on circumstances. 0.2 to 0.4 cc may be a reasonable range.
Now, how much response variation will be introduced because of the smaller volume of 0.25 cc? This variation is that which is used in the frequency response correction table used with the CIC coupler. One assumption that we make in calculations of volumes is that the simulator is small as compared to the wavelength of sound at the frequency we are examining. In the case of the standard ear simulator, the length of the cavity begins to affect its response to sound at frequencies above about 3000 Hz.
Knowing the physical volume of the occluded ear canal and its frequency response variations, it is possible to calculate the equivalent volume of the TM itself at each frequency and to apply this figure to the response of the 0.25 cc cavity between the hearing aid and the TM.
When the calculated volume variation of the TM is applied to the smaller volume of the CIC coupler, the total response variation comes out to be from -8.6 dB at 200 Hz to +5.5 dB at 8000 Hz for a total variation of 14.1dB.
Summary
Using the CIC coupler with its software option gives the dispenser an immediate idea of how much gain that this new type of hearing instrument is going to give the hearing impaired individual. It is nice to see that the CIC hearing aid can really produce significant amounts of gain in spite of its apparently poor performance in the 2cc world of the ANSI standard test.
The user must remember that an actual ear may produce differences from the predicted values.
List of CIC Correction Factors
Acknowledgment
Mead Killion, Mahlon Burkhard and Elmer Carlson are to be thanked for helping assemble the data from which the CIC corrections were derived.