Measuring Bone Conductance

A probe mic is commonly inserted into the ear but only as far as a few mm shy of the ear drum. The ear drum converts acoustic energy to mechanical energy, the ossicles hitting the cochlea converts mechanical to hydraulic energy, and the neural pathways to the brain covert to electrical energy.

A bone oscillator is the source of the vibration when trying to measure performance of the cochlea. The vibration is used to pass through the skull so that you can detect the sound. The cochlea itself does not vibrate when stimulated. When hearing through air conduction, the ossicles hit the cochlea which produces hydraulic energy which the cochlea can interpret. When you're skipping the middle ear system, your creating hydraulic energy through vibration.

It seems (although I'm not sure) in a couple of places your referring to the ear drum and the cochlea interchangeably when they have very different functions. Because most equipment is measuring acoustic energy or sound pressure, it would probably be difficult to measure how that hydraulic energy in the cochlea translates to sound pressure using the tools currently available.

Sorry if I too am not really understanding the question.

/r/audiology Thread Parent