Anthropometry and classification of auricular concha for the ergonomic design of earphones

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Abstract

Abstract The auricular conchae of 310 young Chinese people (169 men and 141 women) aged 18–28 years were classified into different groups and differentiated in terms of shape as a basis to designing wearable and non‐slip earphones. Seven characteristic distances could be obtained accurately by defining 5 characteristic points and extracting their 3‐dimensional (3D) coordinates from 3D digital models (obtained by scanning 310 ear impressions) automatically. The shape differences of auricular conchae were statistically analyzed. Results show that the average dimensions of auricular conchae for men are generally larger than those for women, and the shapes of auricular conchae significantly differ among the participants. The shapes of auricular concha were classified into 24 groups, depending on the characteristic distances. For each group, the coordinates of 5 common‐characteristic points were determined and the basic shape was summarized. The percentage of the samples in each group was statistically given, and 8 prioritized groups of samples more than 5% were suggested. Finally, the feasibility of the classification method was demonstrated by designing earphone, 3D printing, and wearing verification.

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