Aritifical Ears Improve Hearing

Boffins at Northwestern Medical School recently concluded that ear prosthesis is able to increase apparent audio quality to a level that helps improve speech recognition in noisy environments, after studying eight different silicone rubber prostheses.

Auricular prostheses provide an acoustic gain at certain head positions and frequencies, and this acoustic gain is clinically relevant because it benefits speech recognition in noise. In some individuals, auricular prostheses not only effectively restore aesthetics but also may improve hearing. To verify the results of the present experiments, the main outcome measures described in this study will be used to obtain future measurements from individuals who wear auricular prostheses.

Sounds (no pun intended) as though I myself should get a pair of prosthetic ears, since my other half keeps on complaining that I don’t seem to listen to what she says!