Poster Q13 - The Puzzle of the Human Ear

Introduction: In developing nations, only 3% of those in need of hearing care have access to and use those resources. Even in developed nations, hearing care services are clustered in urban and suburban areas. In fact, only 13% of privately practicing audiologists work in rural settings. The aim of the Puzzle of the Ear project is to get students excited about hearing health to boost the future number of audiologists and hearing health experts in developing nations and rural areas. To achieve this goal, the project team created a fun, interactive 3D anatomy puzzle of an ear to use to educate students at STEM festivals and other events

Materials and

Methods: The Puzzle of the Ear project team wanted to create a model that is interactive, educational, safe to play with, and durable enough to be handled by children without breaking. With these criteria in mind, the team decided to use silicone rubber as the material for all of the different components of the ear model.

The team created the ear model by first creating molds of each component on SolidWorks, a computer aided design modeling system. These molds were 3D printed on filament printers and then the silicone rubber was poured into the molds. Coloring pigment was used to differentiate the components.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: The final model consists of 7 main components: the puzzle base, auditory nerve, eustachian tube, ear canal, cochlea and semicircular canals (removable), pinna (removable), and ossicle bones and eardrum (removable). All of the removable components serve as the “puzzle pieces” that create the interactive part of the model. Children interact with this model by playing a game in which they try to put these different pieces of the ear together, learning about how their ear works along the way.

The ear model we've developed serves as an interactive and educational tool, designed as a captivating puzzle for elementary students. Both the 3D printed mold, and silicon base make the model highly cost-effective while offering a more engaging approach to learning ear anatomy. Targeting elementary students, we decided that by incorporating removable, color-coded components, we've enhanced its interactivity beyond that of conventional ear models.

This project aims not only to teach students about the medical perspective of deafness, but also the cultural side of it. Deaf culture is extremely vivid, and those who are deaf and hard of hearing are extremely proud of their culture and we want kids to understand and appreciate that. The students that we have already had the opportunity to work with have all been captivated by our project, and it is truly inspiring to witness.

In the spring of 2024, we actively engaged in two different poster symposiums organized by Clemson University and participated in two outreach events which targeted elementary students.

It's evident that in many developing regions, the focus on medical issues primarily revolves around infectious diseases, often neglecting hearing health. This oversight poses significant challenges in accessing proper hearing care. By targeting younger students in rural areas and inspiring their enthusiasm for hearing health, we aim to establish a more sustainable pipeline. This approach holds promise for long-term effectiveness, surpassing the short-lived impact of occasional visits from audiologists from other regions

Acknowledgements (Optional): Funding provided by Clemson Creative Inquiry