Smartphone-based multispectral imaging otoscope for the diagnosis of otitis media (Conference Presentation)

Abstract

Otitis media (OM) is a common disease associated with high antibiotics prescription, high recurrence, and developmental issues in children. Its early detection is crucial to prevent sequelae. However, the diagnosis of OM is commonly based on subjective conclusions taken from observation of an eardrum through a conventional otoscope. Therefore, this often leads to misdiagnosis and moreover culminates in erroneous antibiotics prescription, occasioning the appearance of resistant bacteria. A smartphone-based imaging system allows an untrained user to acquire and transmit data to a specialist for remote diagnosis. We thus developed a smartphone-based multispectral imaging otoscope capable of offering quantitative information on the physiological state of an eardrum with the benefits from the portability and connectivity of the smartphone. The system consists of an Android application for the control of the hardware and also the display of classification results, a circuit board for the interface of an LED multiplexer with the smartphone, and a custom-made otoscope probe for uniform illumination onto the interior of an ear canal. The probe includes a set of lenses and eight optical fibers attached to the LED multiplexer. The multiplexer is composed of a white LED and eight LEDs with consecutive/sequential wavelengths. We examined a normal ear and an ear with OM with effusion using our developed system. The results showed that the smartphone-based multispectral imaging otoscope could quantitatively distinguish between a healthy ear and an ear with OM with effusion, suggesting its potential as a mobile healthcare tool for diagnosis and management of middle ear pathologies.