EN IEC 60318-8:2022

Electroacoustics - Simulators of human head and ear - Part 8: Acoustic coupler for high-frequency measurements of hearing aids and earphones coupled to the ear by means of ear inserts

IEC 60318-8:2022 describes an acoustic coupler for loading a hearing aid or insert earphone with a specified acoustic impedance when testing its acoustic performance, in the frequency range up to 16 kHz. It is suitable for air-conduction hearing aids and earphones, coupled to the ear by means of ear inserts, earmoulds or similar devices. The acoustic coupler does not simulate the human ear. However, it has an effective volume of only 0,4 cm3, which is small enough not to produce significant resonances in the coupler in the frequency range below 16 kHz. Therefore, it will load the earphone with a known acoustic impedance, which allows repeatable measurements with low uncertainty to be obtained on earphones used in extended high-frequency audiometry.

Akustik - Simulatoren des menschlichen Kopfes und Ohres - Teil 8: Akustischer Kuppler zur Messung an mittels Ohreinsätzen an das Ohr angekoppelten Hörgeräten und Ohrhörern im erweiterten Hochtonbereich

Electroacoustique - Simulateurs de tête et d'oreille humaines - Partie 8: Coupleur acoustique pour les mesurages à hautes fréquences des appareils de correction auditive et des écouteurs couplés à l’oreille par des embouts

L’IEC 60318-8:2022 décrit un coupleur acoustique permettant de charger un appareil de correction auditive ou un écouteur à insérer avec une impédance acoustique spécifiée lors de l'essai de ses performances acoustiques, dans la plage de fréquences allant jusqu'à 16 kHz. Il convient aux appareils de correction auditive et aux écouteurs à conduction aérienne, couplés à l'oreille par des inserts auriculaires, des embouts ou des appareils similaires. Le coupleur acoustique ne simule pas l'oreille humaine. Il a cependant un volume effectif de seulement 0,4 cm3, ce qui est suffisamment petit pour ne pas produire de résonances significatives dans le coupleur dans la plage de fréquences inférieure à 16 kHz. Il charge donc l'écouteur avec une impédance acoustique connue, ce qui permet d'obtenir des mesurages répétables avec une faible incertitude sur les écouteurs utilisés en audiométrie haute fréquence étendue.

Elektroakustika - Simulatorji človeške glave in ušes - 8. del: Akustični spojnik za visokofrekvenčne meritve slušnih pripomočkov in slušalk, ki so na ušesa pritrjeni z ušesnimi vstavki (IEC 60318-8:2022)

Ta del standarda IEC 60318 opisuje akustični spojnik za obremenitev slušnega pripomočka ali vtične ušesne slušalke z določeno akustično impedanco pri preskušanju akustičnih lastnosti takega izdelka, in sicer v frekvenčnem razponu do 16 kHz. Primeren je za zračno prevodne slušne pripomočke in vtične ušesne slušalke, ki se na uho pritrdijo s pomočjo ušesnih vstavkov, ušesnih vložkov ali podobnih pripomočkov. Akustični spojnik ne simulira človeškega ušesa. Toda njegova efektivna prostornina znaša le 0,4 cm3, kar pomeni, da je dovolj majhen, da v frekvenčnem razponu pod 16 kHz v njem ne pride do znatne resonance. Tako ušesno slušalko obremeni z znano akustično impedanco, ki omogoča ponovljive meritve z nizko stopnjo negotovosti, opravljene na slušalkah, ki se uporabljajo pri razširjeni visokofrekvenčni avdiometriji.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 12-May-2022
• ICS: 17.140.50 - Electroacoustics
• Technical Committee: CLC/SR 29 - Electroacoustics
• Drafting Committee: IEC/TC 29 - IEC_TC_29
• Current Stage: 6060 - Document made available - Publishing
• Start Date: 13-May-2022
• Due Date: 31-Dec-2022
• Completion Date: 13-May-2022
• Ref Project: SIST EN IEC 60318-8:2022 - Electroacoustics - Simulators of human head and ear - Part 8: Acoustic coupler for highfrequency measurements of hearing aids and earphones coupled to the ear by means of ear inserts (IEC 60318-8:2022)

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-julij-2022
Elektroakustika - Simulatorji človeške glave in ušes - 8. del: Akustični spojnik za
visokofrekvenčne meritve slušnih pripomočkov in slušalk, ki so na ušesa pritrjeni
z ušesnimi vstavki (IEC 60318-8:2022)
Electroacoustics - Simulators of human head and ear - Part 8: Acoustic coupler for
highfrequency measurements of hearing aids and earphones coupled to the ear by
means of ear inserts (IEC 60318-8:2022)
Akustik - Simulatoren des menschlichen Kopfes und Ohres - Teil 8: Akustischer Kuppler
zur Hochfrequenzmessung von Hörgeräten und Kopfhörern die mit dem Ohr mittels
Ohreinsätzen gekoppelt sind (IEC 60318-8:2022)
Electroacoustique - Simulateurs de tête et d'oreille humaines - Partie 8: Coupleur
acoustique pour les mesurages à hautes fréquences des appareils de correction auditive
et des écouteurs couplés à l’oreille par des embouts (IEC 60318-8:2022)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN IEC 60318-8:2022
ICS:
13.140 Vpliv hrupa na ljudi Noise with respect to human
beings
17.140.50 Elektroakustika Electroacoustics
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD EN IEC 60318-8

NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM May 2022
ICS 17.140.50
English Version
Electroacoustics - Simulators of human head and ear - Part 8:
Acoustic coupler for high-frequency measurements of hearing
aids and earphones coupled to the ear by means of ear inserts
(IEC 60318-8:2022)
Electroacoustique - Simulateurs de tête et d'oreille Akustik - Simulatoren des menschlichen Kopfes und Ohres
humaines - Partie 8: Coupleur acoustique pour les - Teil 8: Akustischer Kuppler zur Hochfrequenzmessung
mesurages à hautes fréquences des appareils de correction von Hörgeräten und Kopfhörern die mit dem Ohr mittels
auditive et des écouteurs couplés à l'oreille par des Ohreinsätzen gekoppelt sind
embouts (IEC 60318-8:2022)
(IEC 60318-8:2022)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2022-05-12. CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC
Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre or to any CENELEC member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation
under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the
same status as the official versions.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and the United Kingdom.

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2022 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. EN IEC 60318-8:2022 E

European foreword
The text of document 29/1111/FDIS, future edition 1 of IEC 60318-8, prepared by IEC/TC 29
"Electroacoustics" was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and approved by CENELEC as
The following dates are fixed:
• latest date by which the document has to be implemented at national (dop) 2023-02-12
level by publication of an identical national standard or by endorsement
• latest date by which the national standards conflicting with the (dow) 2025-05-12
document have to be withdrawn
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national committee. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CENELEC website.
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 60318-8:2022 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standards
indicated:
IEC 60318-5 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60318-5
IEC 60318-4 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60318-4
IEC 60118-0 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60118-0
IEC 61094-4 NOTE Harmonized as EN 61094-4
IEC 61094-2:2009 NOTE Harmonized as EN 61094-2:2009 (not modified)
IEC 60318-1:2009 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60318-1:2009 (not modified)
IEC 61094-6 NOTE Harmonized as EN 61094-6

IEC 60318-8 ®
Edition 1.0 2022-04
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Electroacoustics – Simulators of human head and ear –

Part 8: Acoustic coupler for high-frequency measurements of hearing aids and

earphones coupled to the ear by means of ear inserts

Électroacoustique – Simulateurs de tête et d'oreille humaines –

Partie 8: Coupleur acoustique pour les mesurages à hautes fréquences des

appareils de correction auditive et des écouteurs couplés à l’oreille par des

embouts
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 17.140.50 ISBN 978-2-8322-1092-5

– 2 – IEC 60318-8:2022 © IEC 2022
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
INTRODUCTION . 6
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 7
3.1 Terms and definitions . 7
3.2 Abbreviated terms . 8
4 Mechanical design of the 0,4 cm coupler . 8
4.1 General . 8
4.1.1 Overall design guidelines . 8
4.1.2 Acceptance limits. 9
4.2 Cavity dimensions . 9
4.2.1 Critical dimensions . 9
4.2.2 Effective coupler volume and cavity dimensions . 9
4.3 Verification procedure of the effective coupler volume . 9
4.4 Microphone . 9
4.4.1 General . 9
4.4.2 Microphone type . 9
4.5 Static pressure equalisation vent . 10
4.6 Acoustic transfer impedance level . 10
5 Calibration . 10
5.1 Reference environmental conditions . 10
5.2 Method of calibration . 10
6 Coupling of receivers and hearing aids to the coupler . 11
6.1 Coupling to a hearing aid receiver by means of tubing . 11
6.2 Coupling to a hearing aid embedded in or connected to an earmould . 11
6.3 Coupling to a receiver in the canal (RIC) . 12
6.4 Coupling to a BTE hearing aid with 2 mm continuous internal diameter
tubing . 13
6.5 Coupling to a BTE hearing aid with earmould simulator . 14
6.6 Coupling to a BTE hearing aid with thin acoustic coupling tubing . 15
7 Maximum permitted expanded uncertainty for coupler conformance testing . 16
Annex A (informative) Example of a method for verification of the effective volume of
the coupler . 18
A.1 Method for verification of the effective volume of the coupler . 18
A.2 Measurement uncertainty . 19
Annex B (informative) Example of a method for the measurement of the acoustic
transfer impedance of the 0,4 cm coupler . 20
B.1 Measurement procedure . 20
B.1.1 Acoustic transfer impedance . 20
B.1.2 Setup for measuring the coupler acoustic transfer impedance . 21
B.2 Typical coupler acoustic transfer impedance . 22
B.3 Measurement uncertainty . 24
Annex C (informative) Example of one specific design of the coupler . 25
Annex D (informative) Electrical analogue representation of the coupler as a tube
model . 26

IEC 60318-8:2022 © IEC 2022 – 3 –
Annex E (informative) Example assessments of conformance to specifications of this
document . 31
E.1 General . 31
E.2 Conformance criteria . 31
E.3 Example test results . 31
Bibliography . 34

Figure 1 – Coupling to a hearing aid receiver by means of coupling tubing . 11
Figure 2 – Coupling to an ITE, ITC, or CIC . 12
Figure 3 – Coupling to a receiver in the canal (RIC) . 13
Figure 4 – Coupling to a BTE hearing aid with 2 mm continuous internal diameter

coupling tubing . 14
Figure 5 – Coupling to a BTE hearing aid with earmould simulator . 15
Figure 6 – Coupling to a BTE hearing aid with thin coupling tubing . 16
Figure 7 – Relationship between tolerance interval, corresponding acceptance interval
and the maximum permitted uncertainty of measurement . 17
Figure A.1 – Measurement setup for coupler volume measurement . 19
Figure B.1 – Test set-up for measuring the coupler acoustic transfer impedance . 22
Figure B.2 – Typical coupler acoustic transfer impedance . 22
Figure B.3 – Typical acoustic transfer impedance times frequency . 23
Figure C.1 – Example of a specific design of the 0,4 cm coupler, shown with
removable coupling plate with a nipple for the attachment of coupling tubing . 25
Figure D.1 – Electrical analogue of the coupler as a lossy transmission line tube with

lossy terminations . 26
Figure D.2 – Transfer impedance model vs. measurements . 29
Figure D.3 – Equivalent volume calculated from the model vs. measurements . 29
Figure D.4 – Model predictions of coupler impedance .
...