Methods and systems for observation of tympanic function

摘要

Methods and systems for endoscopic observation of tympanic function.

主权项

1. A system for observation of two dimensional deformation and two dimensional shape of an inner ear membrane, the system comprising:
a transducer that emits a predetermined acoustic input to excite an inner ear; a microphone to detect a response to inner excitation by the predetermined acoustic input; a speculum configured to examine the inner ear, the speculum comprising:
a laser diode operatively connected to an optical fiber to provide an incident light into the inner ear while the inner ear is responding to the predetermined acoustic input;a gradient-index (GRIN) lens to receive a portion of the incident light, said portion being reflected or scattered due to the light inner ear excitation; andan imaging lens disposed to receive the portion of the incident light from said GRIN lens: a reference optical fiber light source that emits a reference light beam and a micromirror disposed to receive the reference light beam and configured to modulate the reference light beam; a beam splitter wedge disposed to receive the modulated light from said micromirror and the portion of the incident light from said imaging lens, said beam splitter wedge further providing light to a digital camera; wherein the digital camera obtains an interferometric recording from the received portion of the incident light, the reference lightbeam and the light received from the beam splitter wedge; a computer having computer code instructions stored thereon, the computer code instructions being configured to cause the computer to:
analyze the interferometric recording to determine spatial and temporal information related to inner ear function; the spatial and temporal information comprising the two dimensional deformation and two dimensional shape of the inner ear membrane;wherein obtaining the interferometric recording further comprises providing control signals to said micromirror to:
a) vary, by controllable deflection, a length of a path of the reference lightbeam by a predetermined fraction of a wavelength;b) obtain an intensity distribution corresponding to the interferometric recording between the reflected or scattered portion of the incident light and the reference lightbeam after traversing said length of said path; andc) repeat steps a) and b) for a number of predetermined fractions of the wavelength; thereby obtaining a plurality of intensity distributions in order to obtain a predetermined function characteristic of the inner ear which correlates with spatial and temporal information.