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An Electret-Powered Skin-Attachable Auditory Sensor that Functions in Harsh Acoustic Environments.

Siyoung LeeHajung RohJunsoo KimSein ChungDonghwan SeoWonkyu MoonKilwon Cho
Published in: Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) (2022)
Auditory sensors have shortcomings with respect to not only personalization with wearability and portability but also detecting a human voice clearly in a noisy environment or when a mask covers the mouth. In this work, an electret-powered and hole-patterned polymer diaphragm is exploited into a skin-attachable auditory sensor. The optimized charged electret diaphragm induces a voltage bias of >400 V against the counter electrode, which reduces the necessity of a bulky power source and enables the capacitive sensor to show high sensitivity (2.2 V Pa -1 ) with incorporation of an elastomer nanodroplet seismic mass. The sophisticated capacitive structure with low mechanical damping enables a flat frequency response (80-3000 Hz) and good linearity (50-80 dB SPL ). The hole-patterned electret diaphragms help the skin-attachable sensor detect only neck-skin vibration rather than dynamic air pressure, enabling a person's voice to be detected in a harsh acoustic environment. The sensor operates reliably even in the presence of surrounding noise and when the user is wearing a gas mask. Therefore, the sensor shows strong potential of a communication tool for disaster response and quarantine activities, and of diagnosis tool for vocal healthcare applications such as cough monitoring and voice dosimetry.
Keyphrases
  • healthcare
  • soft tissue
  • working memory
  • wound healing
  • mechanical ventilation
  • endothelial cells
  • air pollution
  • risk assessment
  • high frequency
  • social media
  • room temperature