Optoelectronic holographic otoscope for measurement of nano-displacements in tympanic membranes

• Main Authors: Rosowski, John J. (Contributor), Furlong, Cosme (Contributor), Santoyo, Fernando Mendoza (Author), Ravicz, Michael E. (Author), Cheng, Jeffrey Tao (Author), Harrington, Ellery (Author), Hulli, Nesim (Author), Hernández-Montes, Maria del Socorro (Author)
• Other Authors: Harvard University- (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, 2010-03-15T17:35:20Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Current methodologies for characterizing tympanic membrane (TM) motion are usually limited to either average acoustic estimates (admittance or reflectance) or single-point mobility measurements, neither of which suffices to characterize the detailed mechanical response of the TM to sound. Furthermore, while acoustic and single-point measurements may aid in diagnosing some middle-ear disorders, they are not always useful. Measurements of the motion of the entire TM surface can provide more information than these other techniques and may be superior for diagnosing pathology. We present advances in our development of a new compact optoelectronic holographic otoscope (OEHO) system for full field-of-view characterization of nanometer-scale sound-induced displacements of the TM surface at video rates. The OEHO system consists of a fiber optic subsystem, a compact otoscope head, and a high-speed image processing computer with advanced software for recording and processing holographic images coupled to a computer-controlled sound-stimulation and recording system. A prototype OEHO system is in use in a medical research environment to address basic science questions regarding TM function. The prototype provides real-time observation of sound-induced TM displacement patterns over a broad frequency range. Representative time-averaged and stroboscopic holographic interferometry results in animals and human cadaver samples are shown, and their potential utility is discussed.
Lakshmi Mittal
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A. C.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
United States National Institute for Deafness and other Communicative Disorders