High-Fidelity Modeling Tools for Bone Conduction Communication Systems

Warfighters increasingly rely on radio communication equipment to ensure safety, mission effectiveness, and situational awareness. Current military communication gear involves headphones and acoustic microphones. Unfortunately, headphones cover the ears and deteriorate detection and localization of ambient sounds that may be important for tactical situations. They also prevent ear plug usage and necessitate noise canceling headsets in high-noise environments. An alternative to air conduction is bone conduction (BC), where sound is transmitted/received through vibration transducers attached to the human head. Existing BC technology is not mature enough to provide high fidelity devices required for military operations, while their development is limited by the lack of adequate modeling and design tools. In this project we will develop, validate, and deliver anatomy and physics based modeling tools for analysis and design of cranial BC communication systems. The tools will be used to optimize the design, attachment, and anatomical location of BC speakers and microphones for best communication clarity in various military environments. CFDRC’s high-fidelity Fluid-Structures-Interaction software will be used to model the filtering effects of the skull, brain, fluids, and other tissues as vibrations transit from points on the head surface to the cochlea. Resulting transfer functions will be used to predict speech intelligibility and evaluated empirically at Georgia Tech’s Sonification Lab through validation studies involving human listeners.