Sound fields in generally shaped curved ear canals.

The sound field in the external ear can be subdivided into a distinctly three-dimensional part in front of pinna and concha, a fairly regular part in the core region of ear canals, and a less regular part in the drum coupling region near the tympanic membrane. The different parts of the sound field and their interaction have been studied using finite elements. A "pinna box" enclosing the pinna provides both a realistic coupling of the external space to the ear canal and the generation of sound. The sound field in the core region turns out to be not that regular as mostly assumed: near pressure minima and maxima "one-sided" isosurfaces (surfaces of equal pressure magnitude) occur, which are inconsistent with the notion of a middle axis, in principle. Nevertheless such isosurfaces can be seen as part of a "fundamental sound field," which is governed by the principle of minimum energy. Actually, the sound transformation through narrow ducts is little affected by one-sided isosurfaces in between. As expected, the beginning of the core region depends on frequency. If the full audio range up to 20 kHz is to be covered, a location in the first bend of the ear canal is found.