Evaluation of the vibrational modes of the human skull as it relates to bone-conducted sound.

Analytic and numerical models are used to study bone-conducted sound and how it relates to the vibrational modes of the human skull. The analytic model is based on the solution to the acoustic and elastic wave equations and the constraining boundary conditions for a fluid-filled elastic sphere. Both models predict that most of the acoustic energy of bone-conducted sound exists in the form of surface wave vibrations at the interface between two acoustic media rather than in the bone or cranial chamber. These surface waves have phase speeds much slower than the bulk sound speed for bone. The analytic model, based on spherical elastic shells, predicts a phase speed of 775 m/s and the first resonance frequency at 1500 Hz while the numerical solution yields approximate phase speeds of 450 m/s and provides a visual display of the surface waves and diffraction effects.