Functional ear prosthetics

Our research focuses on the effect the enlargement and changes to the shape of the outer ear through the use of prosthetics can have on our hearing abilities. This effect was measured by gaining data on the directional hearing abilities of subjects and the volume perceived in a modelled ear canal. To summarise our findings, we found that the elevational directional hearing was negatively affected, while the horizontal directional hearing stayed relatively the same. The level of sound captured by the modelled ear canal was influenced by the ear prosthetic, in the way that the use of a prosthetic on the ear in all instances showed an improvement in the perception of sound.