1. The occlusion effect amplifies bone conducted sounds because as the bone oscillator vibrates the mastoid bone and thus the skull. The skull creates vibrations in the cochlea, displacing the endolymph and creating sound waves back through the inner ear to the middle ear and then to the outer ear canal. In an unoccluded ear, these vibrations would escape out the exterior auditory canal. However, when the ear canal is occluded, the sound waves have no where to go and therefore circulate in the ear canal layering on top of one another causing an increase in their amplitude. They then bounce back through the system, back toward the cochlea at which time the sound waves are further amplified by the ossicles as they finally pass to the cochlea where they are now more easily perceived. The frequencies most affected by the occlusion effect are the lower frequencies (Katz, 2015, pg. 51).
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The occlusion effect does not occur in the presence of a conductive loss since the occlusion effect requires the middle ear and outer ear canal to be functioning normally. Therefore, if the middle ear or outer ear canal’s properties of elasticity, volume or mass are changed then they would not be functioning normally. In order for a conductive loss to be present then one or more of these properties must be altered in some way. If one/both parts of the middle or outer ear canal are occluded with wax or fluid, are disconnected, ect., the sound wave emitting from the cochlea (started by the bone oscillator) is distorted and dissipated. This distortion is caused by excessive impedance from the conductive components and thus the occlusion effect cannot occur as the sound cannot flow out to the outer ear canal and then back through the system. For example, middle ear fluid would cause the tympanic membrane to be unable to vibrate well since it would have great stiffness due to the pressure of the fluid filling up the middle ear and therefore could not send sound waves back to the
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The occlusion effect does not occur in the presence of a conductive loss since the occlusion effect requires the middle ear and outer ear canal to be functioning normally. Therefore, if the middle ear or outer ear canal’s properties of elasticity, volume or mass are changed then they would not be functioning normally. In order for a conductive loss to be present then one or more of these properties must be altered in some way. If one/both parts of the middle or outer ear canal are occluded with wax or fluid, are disconnected, ect., the sound wave emitting from the cochlea (started by the bone oscillator) is distorted and dissipated. This distortion is caused by excessive impedance from the conductive components and thus the occlusion effect cannot occur as the sound cannot flow out to the outer ear canal and then back through the system. For example, middle ear fluid would cause the tympanic membrane to be unable to vibrate well since it would have great stiffness due to the pressure of the fluid filling up the middle ear and therefore could not send sound waves back to the