Bone Conduction

As you speak, vibratory energy is produced by vocal
folds housed in your larynx.


The listener senses these vibrations via displacement of air molecules. This process is called air conduction and it also serves as a feedback route for us to monitor our own speech. Another way that we self-monitor our speech is through bone conduction.

As you generate vibrations while speaking, part of that energy is transmitted to the tissues and bones in the local area, e.g. laryngeal musculature, tongue, mandible, and bones of the skull (see figure 1 - Laryngeal area).

 

Figure 1 - Laryngeal Area

As indicated in figure 2, two of these bone structures - mandible and temporal bone - are in very close proximity the ear canal (Note: You can feel this relationship by placing your finger in your ear and moving your jaw). 

During speech, this tomporomandibular joint vibrates and some of the energy produced is transferred to the
cartilaginous skeleton surrounding the ear canal (see figure 3). The movement of this cartilage results in sound being produced in the canal and, energy of your speech contains certain low frequencies that are not transmitted via air conduction, our voices sound more resonant to ourselves than to others. This explains why recordings of your voice sound different than your-monitored speech.



External acoustic meatus (ear canal)

Temporomandibular joint

 

 


 







                                              

 

Figure 2 (External acoustic meatus - ear canal)                Figure 3 ( Temporomandibular joint)               

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