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Ugarteburu M, Withnell RH, Cardoso L, Carriero A, Richter CP. Mammalian middle ear mechanics: A review. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:983510. [PMID: 36299283 PMCID: PMC9589510 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.983510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The middle ear is part of the ear in all terrestrial vertebrates. It provides an interface between two media, air and fluid. How does it work? In mammals, the middle ear is traditionally described as increasing gain due to Helmholtz’s hydraulic analogy and the lever action of the malleus-incus complex: in effect, an impedance transformer. The conical shape of the eardrum and a frequency-dependent synovial joint function for the ossicles suggest a greater complexity of function than the traditional view. Here we review acoustico-mechanical measurements of middle ear function and the development of middle ear models based on these measurements. We observe that an impedance-matching mechanism (reducing reflection) rather than an impedance transformer (providing gain) best explains experimental findings. We conclude by considering some outstanding questions about middle ear function, recognizing that we are still learning how the middle ear works.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maialen Ugarteburu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY, United States
| | - Robert H. Withnell
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
| | - Luis Cardoso
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY, United States
| | - Alessandra Carriero
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY, United States
- *Correspondence: Alessandra Carriero, ; Claus-Peter Richter,
| | - Claus-Peter Richter
- Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
- The Hugh Knowles Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
- *Correspondence: Alessandra Carriero, ; Claus-Peter Richter,
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Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography for Otology Applications: From Phantom Simulation to In Vivo Experiment. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/app11125711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
In otology, visualization and vibratory analysis have been crucial to enhance the success of diagnosis and surgical operation. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been employed in otology to obtain morphological structure of tissues non-invasively, owing to the ability of measuring the entire region of tympanic membrane, which compensates the limitations of conventional methods. As a functional extension of OCT, Doppler OCT, which enables the measurement of the motion information with structural data of tissue, has been applied in otology. Over the years, Doppler OCT systems have been evolved in various forms to enhance the measuring sensitivity of phase difference. In this review, we provide representative algorithms of Doppler OCT and various applications in otology from preclinical analysis to clinical experiments and discuss future developments.
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Jeon B, Lee J, Jeon D, Kim P, Jang JH, Wijesinghe RE, Jeon M, Kim J. Functional assessment of moisture influenced cadaveric tympanic membrane using phase shift-resolved optical Doppler vibrography. JOURNAL OF BIOPHOTONICS 2020; 13:e201900202. [PMID: 31670908 DOI: 10.1002/jbio.201900202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2019] [Revised: 10/16/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
An elevated relative moisture in the external ear canal and middle ear cavity may predispose to chronic otorrhea and related infections along with abnormal tympanic membrane (TM) vibration patterns. Therefore, phase shift-resolved optical Doppler vibrography (ODV) was used for vibration assessments of moisture influenced cadaveric TM. ODV was applied to generate time resolved cross-sectional and volumetric vibrographs of a cadaveric TM, driven acoustically at several frequencies. In order to analyze the effect of moisture on TM, homogenous moisture conditions were provided by soaking the cadaveric TM specimens in 1× phosphate buffer saline with a pH of 7.4. The TM specimen was exposed to a rapidly switchable frequency generator during the ODV image acquisition. The experiment was conducted for 3 hours and the cadaveric TM was exposed to each frequency with an interval of 30 minutes. Acquired phase shift-resolved ODV assessments revealed a depth dependent vibration tendency between the applied frequencies, along with a decline in the moisture level of the cadaveric TM specimen. Thus, the ODV method can aid our understanding of sound conduction in the middle ear, thus supporting the diagnosis of TM diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Byeonggyu Jeon
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Jaeyul Lee
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Deokmin Jeon
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Pilun Kim
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Jeong Hun Jang
- Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Ajou University, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea
| | - Ruchire Eranga Wijesinghe
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Kyungil University, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea
| | - Mansik Jeon
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Jeehyun Kim
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
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Seong D, Kwon J, Jeon D, Wijesinghe RE, Lee J, Ravichandran NK, Han S, Lee J, Kim P, Jeon M, Kim J. In Situ Characterization of Micro-Vibration in Natural Latex Membrane Resembling Tympanic Membrane Functionally Using Optical Doppler Tomography. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2019; 20:E64. [PMID: 31877652 PMCID: PMC6982896 DOI: 10.3390/s20010064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 12/13/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Non-invasive characterization of micro-vibrations in the tympanic membrane (TM) excited by external sound waves is considered as a promising and essential diagnosis in modern otolaryngology. To verify the possibility of measuring and discriminating the vibrating pattern of TM, here we describe a micro-vibration measurement method of latex membrane resembling the TM. The measurements are obtained with an externally generated audio stimuli of 2.0, 2.2, 2.8, 3.1 and 3.2 kHz, and their respective vibrations based tomographic, volumetric and quantitative evaluations were acquired using optical Doppler tomography (ODT). The micro oscillations and structural changes which occurred due to diverse frequencies are measured with sufficient accuracy using a highly sensitive ODT system implied phase subtraction method. The obtained results demonstrated the capability of measuring and analyzing the complex varying micro-vibration of the membrane according to implied sound frequency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daewoon Seong
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Jaehwan Kwon
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Deokmin Jeon
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Ruchire Eranga Wijesinghe
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Kyungil University, Gyeongsan 38428, Korea;
| | - Jaeyul Lee
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Naresh Kumar Ravichandran
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Sangyeob Han
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Junsoo Lee
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Pilun Kim
- School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, Korea;
| | - Mansik Jeon
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
| | - Jeehyun Kim
- School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea; (D.S.); (J.K.); (D.J.); (J.L.); (N.K.R.); (S.H.); (J.L.)
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Measurement of Vibrating Tympanic Membrane in an In Vivo Mouse Model Using Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography. J Imaging 2019; 5:jimaging5090074. [PMID: 34460668 PMCID: PMC8320936 DOI: 10.3390/jimaging5090074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 08/30/2019] [Accepted: 09/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has a micro-resolution with a penetration depth of about 2 mm and field of view of about 10 mm. This makes OCT well suited for analyzing the anatomical and internal structural assessment of the middle ear. To study the vibratory motion of the tympanic membrane (TM) and its internal structure, we developed a phase-resolved Doppler OCT system using Kasai’s autocorrelation algorithm. Doppler optical coherence tomography is a powerful imaging tool which can offer the micro-vibratory measurement of the tympanic membrane and obtain the micrometer-resolved cross-sectional images of the sample in real-time. To observe the relative vibratory motion of individual sections (malleus, thick regions, and the thin regions of the tympanic membrane) of the tympanic membrane in respect to auditory signals, we designed an experimental study for measuring the difference in Doppler phase shift for frequencies varying from 1 to 8 kHz which were given as external stimuli to the middle ear of a small animal model. Malleus is the very first interconnecting region between the TM and cochlea. In our proposed study, we observed that the maximum change in Doppler phase shift was seen for the 4 kHz acoustic stimulus in the malleus, the thick regions, and in the thin regions of the tympanic membrane. In particular, the vibration signals were higher in the malleus in comparison to the tympanic membrane.
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Burwood GWS, Fridberger A, Wang RK, Nuttall AL. Revealing the morphology and function of the cochlea and middle ear with optical coherence tomography. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2019; 9:858-881. [PMID: 31281781 PMCID: PMC6571188 DOI: 10.21037/qims.2019.05.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2019] [Accepted: 05/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized physiological studies of the hearing organ, the vibration and morphology of which can now be measured without opening the surrounding bone. In this review, we provide an overview of OCT as used in the otological research, describing advances and different techniques in vibrometry, angiography, and structural imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- George W. S. Burwood
- Department of Otolaryngology, Oregon Hearing Research Center/HNS, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Anders Fridberger
- Department of Otolaryngology, Oregon Hearing Research Center/HNS, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section for Neurobiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Ruikang K. Wang
- Department of Bioengineering and Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Alfred L. Nuttall
- Department of Otolaryngology, Oregon Hearing Research Center/HNS, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
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