Dental Sound Conduction Device For The Scuba Mouthpiece

The successful development of a scuba mouthpiece based oral bone conduction hearing device will revolutionize underwater hearing. Clear, binaural hearing in an aqueous environment, without the need for headgear or ear proximity air gap sound transmission is a tremendous advantage to divers who wish to voice communicate or to receive audible information from instrumentation. Current uses of headgear which provide air gap sound transmission directly to the ear are uncomfortable, require additional preparation time for the diver and are movement restrictive. This project will assess the performance of a unique design scuba mouthpiece construction with state-of-the-art magnetostrictive transducer technology and orthodontic geometry which looks and feels similar to current technology mouthpieces. Assessments of transducer orientation to the bite plate, number of transducers and tooth location/frequency response optimization will be done. Concurrently, a bite plate will be developed, which when interfaced with the transducer will provide an optimized hearing performance. As an assembly, the mouthpiece will be adaptable to a conventional second stage breathing air regulator. The degree of ease of use, comfort, sound volume, sound clarity and safety will determined.