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Mechanical Effects of Medical Device Attachment to Human Tympanic Membrane

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Abstract

Purpose

Several treatment methods for hearing disorders rely on attaching medical devices to the tympanic membrane. This study aims to systematically analyze the effects of the material and geometrical properties and location of the medical devices attached to the tympanic membrane on middle-ear vibrations.

Methods

A finite-element model of the human middle ear was employed to simulate the effects of attachment of medical devices. Various types of material and geometrical properties, locations, and modeling scenarios were investigated for the medical device.

Results

The attachment of the device magnifies the effects of anti-resonances of the middle ear. Additionally, the variations of the material properties of the device significantly alter the middle-ear resonance frequency while changes in the umbo and stapes footplate motions are negligible at frequencies above 5 kHz. Furthermore, modeling the device as a point mass cannot accurately represent the implanted middle-ear behavior. The variations of the diameter and height of the medical device have negligible effects on the middle-ear vibrations at frequencies below 200 Hz but can have considerable impacts at higher frequencies. The effects of changing the device height were negligible at frequencies above 2 kHz. We also discuss the effects of medical device attachment on the vibration patterns of the tympanic membrane as well as the impacts of the variations of the location of the device on the stapes footplate responses.

Conclusion

The findings of our study aid the development and optimization of new therapeutic devices, attached to the tympanic membrane, to have the least adverse effects on middle-ear vibrations.

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Data Availability Statement

Data are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Notes

  1. The coefficient of variation is defined as the percentage of the standard deviation divided by the mean.

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Acknowledgements

FE simulations were performed using the infrastructures of Digital Research Alliance of Canada (www.alliancecan.ca ).

Funding

This work was supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund - Research Innovation (38964) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2020-05522).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Arash Ebrahimian, Hossein Mohammadi & Nima Maftoon

  2. Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Arash Ebrahimian, Hossein Mohammadi & Nima Maftoon

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  1. Arash Ebrahimian
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  2. Hossein Mohammadi
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Correspondence to Nima Maftoon.

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Ebrahimian, A., Mohammadi, H. & Maftoon, N. Mechanical Effects of Medical Device Attachment to Human Tympanic Membrane. JARO (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-024-00942-5

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