Measurements of middle ear (ME) acoustic power flow and related measures (e.g., reflectance, absorbance, impedance, resistance, and reactance) have several important advantages over other measures of acoustic impedance, such as the clinical “gold standard” measure, tympanometry. In addition to its wide bandwidth and ease of use, the absorbance curve, on a dB scale, has a shape that is similar t...

In a previous study [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 108, 1290 (2000)] the acoustic impedance difference between intercostal tissue and lung was evaluated as a possible explanation for the enhanced lung damage with increased hydrostatic pressure, but the hydrostatic-pressure-dependent impedance difference alone could not explain the enhanced occurrence of hemorrhage. In that study, it was hypothesized that...

Acoustic signals generated by filamentation of ultrashort terawatt laser pulses in water are characterized experimentally. Measurements reveal a strong influence of input pulse duration on the shape and intensity of the acoustic wave. Numerical simulations of the laser pulse nonlinear propagation and the subsequent water hydrodynamics and acoustic wave generation show that the strong acoustic e...

A novel and practical acoustic energy harvesting mechanism to harvest traveling sound at low audible frequency is introduced and studied both experimentally and numerically. The acoustic energy harvester in this study contains a quarter-wavelength straight tube resonator with lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric cantilever plates placed inside the tube. When the tube resonator is excited...

The round window (RW) membrane provides pressure relief when the cochlea is excited by sound. Here, we report measurements of cochlear function from guinea pigs when the cochlea was stimulated at acoustic frequencies by movements of a miniature magnet which partially occluded the RW. Maximum cochlear sensitivity, corresponding to subnanometre magnet displacements at neural thresholds, was obser...

Biological effects of ultrasound involve nonlinear phenomena in qualitatively different ways. (1) The propagation of sound itself is nonlinear. Most nonthermal bioeffects of interest to users of diagnostic ultrasound require acoustic pressures great enough that the wave becomes distorted by nonlinear propagation. Under 1imi ting conditions this process can increase the absorption parameter of w...

Thermoacoustics describes energy conversion processes, activated by interaction temperature oscillation, accompanying the pressure oscillation in a sound wave, with solid boundaries. In ordinary experience this interaction of sound and heat cannot be observed, because of the very low temperature differences, but under suitable conditions, it can be emphasized and amplified to create remarkable ...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine the aerodynamic and acoustic features of speech produced at comfortable, maximal and minimal levels of vocal effort. STUDY DESIGN Prospective, quasi-experimental research design. METHOD Eighteen healthy participants with normal voice were included in this study. After task training, participants produced repeated syllable combinations at...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS During phonation, skewing of the glottal flow waveform (Q) refers to a phenomenon that occurs when the flow decelerates more rapidly than it accelerates. This skewing is clinically important because it increases the glottal efficiency, which is defined by the acoustic intensity (sound pressure level) divided by the subglottal pressure. Current theoretical models predict th...