Finite-Element Modelling of the Acoustic Input Admittance of the Newborn Ear Canal and Middle Ear

  • Hamid Motallebzadeh
  • Nima Maftoon
  • Jacob Pitaro
  • W. Robert J. Funnell
  • Sam J. Daniel
Research Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Admittance measurement is a promising tool for evaluating the status of the middle ear in newborns. However, the newborn ear is anatomically very different from the adult one, and the acoustic input admittance is different than in adults. To aid in understanding the differences, a finite-element model of the newborn ear canal and middle ear was developed and its behaviour was studied for frequencies up to 2000 Hz. Material properties were taken from previous measurements and estimates. The simulation results were within the range of clinical admittance measurements made in newborns. Sensitivity analyses of the material properties show that in the canal model, the maximum admittance and the frequency at which that maximum admittance occurs are affected mainly by the stiffness parameter; in the middle-ear model, the damping is as important as the stiffness in influencing the maximum admittance magnitude but its effect on the corresponding frequency is negligible. Scaling up the geometries increases the admittance magnitude and shifts the resonances to lower frequencies. The results suggest that admittance measurements can provide more information about the condition of the middle ear when made at multiple frequencies around its resonance.

Keywords

admittance external ear canal middle ear newborns infants finite-element model linear material properties sensitivity analysis clinical measurements frequency response 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Montréal Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute. Computations were made on the supercomputer Guillimin of McGill University, managed by Calcul Québec and Compute Canada; the operation of this supercomputer is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, NanoQuébec, the Réseau de Médecine Génétique Appliquée and the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Nature et technologies. The authors thank C. Northrop (Temporal Bone Foundation, Boston) for the histological images used to supplement our CT scan. The authors would also like to thank the editors and the three anonymous reviewers who helped us to improve this paper.

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Copyright information

© Association for Research in Otolaryngology 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Biomedical EngineeringMcGill UniversityMontréalCanada
  2. 2.Division of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck SurgeryMontréal Children’s HospitalMontréalCanada
  3. 3.Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck SurgeryMcGill UniversityMontréalCanada
  4. 4.Department of Pediatric SurgeryMcGill UniversityMontréalCanada

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