Sound transmission through reconstructed middle ear using a full-scale model experiment

Abstract

Tympanoplasty is surgical operation performed for intractable otitis media which is chronic otitis media and chronic suppurative otitis media with cholesteatoma and has multiple types depending on the patient's medical condition. This includes ossicle reconstruction by inserting reconstruction material to restore hearing, but there are some cases in which postoperative hearing performance is poor, and no expected knowledge has been obtained. There are some studies about the mechanism of sound transmission through human intact middle ear, but we have not yet obtained enough information on the mechanism of sound transmission through the reconstructed ossicles. In this study, the hypothesis that differences in sound transmission occur due to differences in the type of the reconstructed model was verified by measuring the displacement of stapes footplate with laser doppler vibrometer in a full-scale model experiment modeled on external auditory canal, tympanic membrane, and ossicles.