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

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.