An investigation of cochlear dynamics in surgical and implanation processes

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The aim of this research is to improve the understanding of the impact on the cochlear dynamics corresponding to surgical tools, processes and hearing implants such that these can be designed more appropriately in the future. The results suggest that enhanced performance of implants can be achieved by optimisation of the location with respect to the cochlea and have shown that robotic surgical tools used to enable precise, simplified processes can reduce harm and offer other benefits. With an ageing population, and where exposure to noise on daily basis is increased rather than industrial settings, at least two factors of age and noise, will contribute to a greater incidence of hearing loss in the population in the future. In the research a mathematical model of the passive cochlea was produced to increase understanding of the sensitivity and behaviour of the fluid, structure and pressure transients within the cochlea. The investigation has been complemented by an innovative experimental technique developed to evaluate the dynamics in the cochlear fluids while maintaining the integrity of the cochlear structure. This technique builds on the success of the state-of-the-art surgical robotic micro-drill. The micro-drill enables removal of bone tissue to prepare a consistent aperture onto the endosteal membrane within the cochlea. This is known as preparing a ‘Third window’. In this technique the motion of the exposed endosteal membrane is treated as the diaphragm element of a pressure transducer and is measured using a Micro- Scanning Laser Vibrometer operating through a microscope. There are two principal outcomes of the research: First, the approach has enabled disturbances in the cochlea to be contrasted for different surgical techniques, which it is expected to allude preferential methods in future surgery in otology. In particular it was shown that when using the robotic micro-drill to create a cochleostomy that the disturbance amplitude reduces to 1% of that experienced when using conventional drilling. Secondly, an empirically derived frequency map of the cochlea has been produced to understand how the location of implants affects maximum power transmission over the required frequency band. This has also shown the feasibility of exciting the cochlea at a third window in order to amplify cochlear response

Development of Mathematical Models of a Human Virtual Ear

L’orecchio umano è un complesso sistema biomeccanico deputato alla ricezione e percezione del suono. Il presente lavoro di tesi verte sull’analisi delle parti esterna o media. Sono introdotti alcuni cenni di anatomia dell’orecchio esterno e medio ed una indagine di letteratura rivolta alla modellazione. È stato sviluppato un modello ad elementi finiti standard e generalizzati del canale uditivo e della membrana timpanica, a seguito di un approfondito confronto tra modelli di letteratura della membrana timpanica. Per la catena ossiculare, comprensiva di giunti, legamenti e tendini muscolari che la supportano, è stato adottato un approccio di tipo multibody. Il modello ad elementi finiti della membrana timpanica è stato combinato con il modello multibody della catena ossiculare al fine di ottenere un modello ibrido dell’orecchio medio. L’elaborazione dell’informazione nel sistema uditivo è un tema centrale della psicoacustica, una branca dell’acustica concernente la correlazione quantitativa delle grandezze fisiche e della percezione del suono. Un approccio psicoacustico è stato applicato in un’attività sperimentale e teorica per la valutazione del rumore da alzacristalli elettrici, nell’ambito di un progetto in collaborazione con un’azienda del territorio. The present thesis mainly focuses on the outer and middle parts of the human ear, which is a complex biomechanical system, devoted to sound reception and perception. The anatomy in brief and a model-oriented review of outer and middle ear are introduced. A model including the auditory canal and the tympanic membrane was developed applying standard and generalized finite element methods, following a thorough comparison between literature finite element models of the tympanic membrane. The multibody approach was adopted for the ossicular chain and supporting structures (joints, ligaments and muscle tendons). The tympanic membrane finite element model and the ossicular chain multibody model were combined in a hybrid finite element-multibody model of the middle ear. The information processing in the auditory system is a central issue of the psychoacoustics, a branch of acoustics concerning the quantitative correlation between the physical characteristics of sounds and their perceptual attributes. The psychoacoustic approach was applied in an experimental and theoretical activity on power window noise evaluation, within a project in collaboration with a local enterprise

Cochlear models

The intention of the research activity described in this thesis is to contribute to the dynamical theory of the cochlea of the human inner ear. The Science of Hearing, being disseminated in a wide range of frequently independent or unco-ordinated disciplines, is advancing far in the fields of subjective human acoustics, middle ear restorative surgery, medical diagnostic electro-encephalography and cochlear-nucleus-to-thalamus neural communications research. At the same time, exploitation, in auditory research, of the techniques and resources of modern engineering science, which may be particularly appropriately applied to analyses of the peripheral hearing system, has not been manifest to any great degree. It was therefore hoped that a first-principles engineering approach to the subject of cochlear action would demonstrate the need for a mathematical and quantitative type of analysis of the response of this key organ of hearing and also indicate the extent to which cochlear science is at present to be found in a state of disarray. The writer's principal thesis is that a considerably greater potential for discrimination of the frequencies and intensities of pure and complex tones is attributable to the mechanical action of the cochlea than is generally supposed. That thesis will be more fully proven (it is expected) when current research is considerably extended and improved to permit the computation of spatial arrays of cochlear hair cell cilia shearing force patterns and electrical responses. The studies reported herein are relevant and fundamental to this aim and are limited to considerations of the dynamical response of the cochlear partition as a whole. This research has included approximately equal parts of review, physical cochlear model experimentation and mathematical analysis. The first two chapters end sections of most of the other chapters concentrate on defining the system and reviewing the literature. Chapters 3 and 4 estimate the order and ranges of the physical properties of mass and stiffness of the scala media (or cochlear partition), these properties being essential to the subsequent design of both physical and mathematical models of the cochlea in Chapters 5 and 6 respectively. The final chapter adds to the comments in other chapters on the credibility of the physical constants previously deduced in the thesis and tested in the models, the performance of the models, the particular problems clearly requiring further research effort and the relevance of the work to a more complete comprehension of human auditory theory

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A cumulative index to the 1974 issues of a continuing bibliography

This publication is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in supplements 125 through 136 of Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography. It includes three indexes--subject, personal author, and corporate source

An integrated approach to whole-body vibration

Obiettivo di questa tesi è la determinazione e quantificazione degli effetti della whole-body vibration al corpo umano, in termini di consumo energetico, tramite un approccio globale e integrato. L’obiettivo è ottenuto considerando il corpo umano come una struttura organica complessa. Allo scopo di comprendere come questo risponda alle vibrazioni verticali, il consumo energetico del corpo umano è stato misurato per mezzo della variazione della temperatura superficiale con tecniche di misurazione a termografia infrarossa. Lo spostamento dei muscoli invece con il sistema di analisi di movimento Vicon MX. Infine, per quanto riguarda il consumo di ossigeno con il sistema telemetrico Cosmed K4. Il primo passo è stato l’istituzione di un protocollo appropriato che soddisfi l’obiettivo di questo studio. Infatti, la mancanza di coerenza nei protocollo di whole-body vibration che si trovano allo stato dell’arte, ha reso essenziale l’istituzione di un apposito protocollo, ed a questo scopo è stata definita la struttura dell’esperimento. Di conseguenza, è stata avviata una serie di prove per esaminare la risposta del corpo umano alle vibrazioni verticali, cambiando la durata e la frequenza della vibrazione, nonché la durata del periodo di riposo. In totale, quattro persone in piedi sono state sottoposte a vibrazioni verticali, in una pedana vibrante, a frequenze da 20 a 50 Hz. Dopo l’instaurazione del protocollo finale, sono stati avviate una serie di prove di laboratorio. In particolare, sono state scelte tre frequenze per le vibrazioni: 20, 30 e 45 Hz. I risultati ottenuti più interessanti di questo studio, riguardano il consumo di ossigeno, la temperatura superficiale e i coefficienti di trasmissibilità dell’accelerazione.The objective of this thesis is to determine and quantify the effects of whole-body vibration to the human body in terms of energy expenditure, by means of a global and integrated approach. This objective is attained by considering the human body as a complex organic structure. In order to understand how it responds to vertical vibrations, the energy expenditure of the human body was measured by means of the variation in superficial temperature with the aid of infrared thermography, the displacement of the muscles with the aid of the Vicon MX motion analysis system and the oxygen uptake with the aid of the Cosmed K4 telemetric system. The establishment of an appropriate protocol which satisfies the aim of this study was the first goal. The lack of consistency in whole-body vibration protocols in the current published studies makes the establishment of an appropriate protocol essential, and in this sense, an experiment setup was implemented. Therefore, a series of experiments was conducted to examine the response of the human body to vertical vibrations, changing the duration and the frequency of vertical vibration, and the duration of rest period. A number of four persons were subjected to vertical vibrations on a vibrating table in a standing position at a frequency ranging from 20 to 50 Hz. After the establishment of the final protocol, a series of laboratory experiments took place. Three different vibration frequencies were chosen: 20, 30 and 45 Hz corresponding to three different tests. The most interesting findings regard the oxygen consumption, the superficial temperature evolution, and the transmissibility coefficients for the acceleration