Measurement of pressure discomfort threshold in auricular concha for in-ear wearables design

Xinyi Yuan; Zijian Wang; Feng Feng; Yuanyuan Bu; Zhijun Fan; Heshan Liu; Puhong Li; Luan Zhang; Xiao Li; Zhiwei Hu

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104078

Measurement of pressure discomfort threshold in auricular concha for in-ear wearables design

Appl Ergon. 2023 Nov:113:104078. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104078. Epub 2023 Jun 27.

Authors

Xinyi Yuan¹, Zijian Wang¹, Feng Feng², Yuanyuan Bu¹, Zhijun Fan³, Heshan Liu¹, Puhong Li⁴, Luan Zhang⁵, Xiao Li⁵, Zhiwei Hu⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
² Computer Science Department, Aalto University, Finland.
³ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China. Electronic address: fanzhijun@sdu.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Arts and Design, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, China.
⁵ Goertek Institute of Technology, Goertek Inc., Qingdao, China.

PMID: 37385130
DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104078

Abstract

In an effort to mitigate the homogenization of in-ear wearables, designers have been focusing on finding new solutions to enhance user comfort. While the concept of pressure discomfort thresholds (PDT) in humans has been applied to product design, research on the auricular concha remains scarce. In this study, we conducted an experiment to measure the PDT at six points in the auricular concha of 80 participants. Our results showed that the tragus was the most sensitive area and that gender, symmetry, and Body Mass Index (BMI)had no significant effect on PDT. Based on these findings, we generated pressure sensitivity maps of the auricular concha to aid in the optimization of in-ear wearable design.

Keywords: In-ear wearables; Pressure discomfort threshold; Pressure sensitivity map.

MeSH terms

Ear Auricle*
Humans
Wearable Electronic Devices*