On the Origin of Cardiovascular Sounds Recorded from the Ear

It has been conjectured that sounds recorded at the ear, using microphones, originate from either heart sounds propagating from the heart to the recording site, through tissue and bone, or vascular activity at the recording site, such as vasodilation. However, prior studies have not been able to verify these conjectures. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the signals measured in the ear using so called body-coupled microphones.