On-Body Path-Gain Investigation for Body-Centric Wireless Communications for Hearing Instruments

The on-body path gain is investigated for four different link configurations. The height and width of the body torso is varied for each link configuration to determine the influence on the path gain. To prevent that waves propagate from one side of the body to the other, absorbers are positioned on the torso. It is found that the path gain (in decibels) appears to be linearly dependent on the torso height and width. A realistic smooth convex stomach is added to the model which is comprised of mainly straight and flat surfaces. The thickness of the stomach layer is varied and the impact on the path gain is studied. Ear-to-front pocket links are seen to be influenced by the stomach size, whereas there are no apparent impact on ear-to-back pocket links. The simulations are performed in HFSS.