Simultaneous Measurement of Ear Canal Movement, Electromyography of the Masseter Muscle and Occlusal Force for Earphone-Type Occlusal Force Estimation Device Development.

We intend to develop earphone-type wearable devices to measure occlusal force by measuring ear canal movement using an ear sensor that we developed. The proposed device can measure occlusal force during eating. In this work, we simultaneously measured the ear canal movement (ear sensor value), the surface electromyography (EMG) of the masseter muscle and the occlusal force six times from five subjects as a basic study toward occlusal force meter development.

Earable TEMPO: A Novel, Hands-Free Input Device that Uses the Movement of the Tongue Measured with a Wearable Ear Sensor.

In this study, an earphone-type interface named "earable TEMPO" was developed for hands-free operation, wherein the user can control the device by simply pushing the tongue against the roof of the mouth for about one second. This interface can be used to start and stop the music from a portable audio player. The earable TEMPO uses an earphone-type sensor equipped with a light emitting diode (LED) and a phototransistor to optically measure shape variations that occur in the external auditory meatus when the tongue is pressed against the roof of the mouth.

A Novel Earphone Type Sensor for Measuring Mealtime: Consideration of the Method to Distinguish between Running and Meals.

In this study, we describe a technique for estimating meal times using an earphone-type wearable sensor. A small optical sensor composed of a light-emitting diode and phototransistor is inserted into the ear hole of a user and estimates the meal times of the user from the time variations in the amount of light received. This is achieved by emitting light toward the inside of the ear canal and receiving light reflected back from the ear canal.