Influences of bone conduction and air conduction on the sound of one's ownvoice

It is a well-known fact that both bone-conducted and air-conducted sound co ntribute to the perception of one's own voice. As early as 1949 Bekesy desc ribed experiments which were aimed at estimating the ratio of the two compo nents' contributions. In this article investigations are described which quantitatively analyse t he influences of air conduction, bone conduction and of the reflections on the sound of a person's own voice. Different methods for measuring the comp onents were applied. Concerning the air conduction, direct measurements of sound propagation from the mouth to the ears around the head were performed . As the bone conduction cannot be measured directly, psychoacoustic method s based on masking effects were used to evaluate this component. The reflec tions in a room can be modelled by methods that apply geometric acoustics. The results of the measurements are compared to those of related investigat ions reported in literature. Finally, it is discussed to which extent one's own voice should be considered in auditory virtual environments.