Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Kingston University London, UK.
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Brunel University London, UK.
Prim Dent J. 2023 Mar;12(1):73-78. doi: 10.1177/20501684231155962.
The dental handpiece noise in a dental surgery is concerning to both patients and staff as a major cause of dental phobia in patients and potential hearing loss in clinical staff. High-frequency noise generated by dental handpieces is considered to be the worst of the many noises in a dental clinic. Methods to reduce this noise have been proposed and either passive or active noise reduction headphones are often suggested. However, in a dental surgery environment, the need for good verbal communication with the patient needs to be maintained. As a result, this paper aims to evaluate one proprietary anti-noise device considered suitable for this specific purpose.
Lab-based experiments were set up and carried out to evaluate QuietOn, using GRAS 43AG-1 Ear and Cheek Simulator to mimic a section of the human head and ear to represent the acoustic characteristics of an actual ear. Two types of dental drill noise recordings, one for electric motor-driven and another one for air turbine-driven, were played back through high-definition speakers. Sound data captured by the simulator are then visualised and plotted using MATLAB for analysis.
QuietOn is effective at low frequencies (< 1kHz). However, when dealing with high-frequency noise such as dental handpieces it is ineffective yet subdues verbal communication.
Further development of passive or active noise cancellation earplugs is still needed to target dental handpiece noise while maintaining verbal communication.
牙科手术中牙科手机的噪声令患者和医护人员都感到担忧，它是导致患者产生牙科恐惧症的主要原因之一，同时也可能导致临床医护人员听力受损。牙科手机产生的高频噪声被认为是牙科诊室众多噪声中最严重的一种。已经提出了许多降低这种噪声的方法，通常建议使用被动或主动降噪耳机。然而，在牙科手术环境中，需要与患者保持良好的口头交流。因此，本文旨在评估一种专有的抗噪声设备，该设备被认为适合这一特定用途。
建立了实验室实验来评估 QuietOn，使用 GRAS 43AG-1 耳和脸颊模拟器来模拟人类头部和耳朵的一部分，以代表实际耳朵的声学特性。回放两种类型的牙科钻头噪声记录，一种是电动马达驱动的，另一种是空气涡轮驱动的，通过高清扬声器播放。模拟器捕获的声音数据然后使用 MATLAB 进行可视化和绘制，以便进行分析。
QuietOn 在低频（<1kHz）时有效。然而，在处理牙科手机等高频噪声时，它效果不佳，但会抑制口头交流。
仍需要进一步开发被动或主动降噪耳塞，以在保持口头交流的同时针对牙科手机噪声。
