Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury through ear canal: A finite element study

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Biomedical Engineering Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The role of ear canal in transmitting blast waves to the brain is not clear. The goal of this work is to characterize the influence of ear canal on blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury through a computational approach.

Methods

A three-dimensional human head model with single-side ear canal details was reconstructed from computed tomography images. The ear canal was positioned either facing the incident blast wave or facing away from the blast wave.

Results

The blast wave-head interaction has demonstrated that the overpressure within the ear canal was substantially amplified when the ear directly faced the blast wave. When it faced away from the blast wave, the overpressure within the ear canal was less than the actual incident blast pressure. Regardless of the substantial pressure differences within the ear canal induced by the blast wave, the resulting intracranial pressures were almost the same for both cases.

Conclusions

The blast wave-head interaction has demonstrated that the role of the ear canal in brain dynamics, and thus brain injury, was negligible. However, the peak overpressure within the ear canal exceeded the documented tympanic membrane rupture and inner ear damage thresholds. This was speculated to cause the degeneration of axons along the auditory pathway up to the midbrain. This work provided fundamental understanding of the load transmission through the ear canal and could serve as a platform for designing better protective armors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Warden D. Military TBI during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. J Head Trauma Rehabit. 2006; 21(5):398–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kleinschmit NN. A shock tube technique for blast wave simulation and studies for flow structure interactions in shock tube blast experiments. Masters thesis; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; USA; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Moss WC, King MJ, Blackman EG. Skull flexure from blast waves: a mechanism for brain injury with implications for helmet design. Phys Rev Lett. 2009; doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.108702.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Courtney AC, Courtney MW. A thoracic mechanism of mild traumatic brain injury due to blast pressure waves. Med Hypotheses. 2009; 72(1):76–83.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Hua Y, Akula PK, Gu L, Berg J, Nelson CA. Experimental and numerical investigation of the mechanism of blast wave transmission through a surrogate head. J Comput Nonlin Dyn. 2014; doi:10.1115/1.4026156.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Mao JC, Pace E, Pierozynski P, Kou Z, Shen Y, VandeVord P, Haacke EM, Zhang X, Zhang J. Blast-induced tinnitus and hearing loss in rats: behavioral and imaging assays. J Neurotrauma. 2012; 29(2):430–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Arun P, Valiyaveettil M, Biggemann L, Alamneh Y, Wei Y, Oguntayo S, Wang Y, Long JB, Nambiar MP. Modulation of hearing related proteins in the brain and inner ear following repeated blast exposures. Interv Med Appl Sci. 2012; doi:10.1556/IMAS.4.2012.3.2.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Varas JM, Philippens M, Meijer S, Van Den Berg A, Sibma P, Van Bree J, De Vries D. Physics of IED blast shock tube simulations for mTBI research. Front Neurol. 2011; doi:10.3389/fneur.2011.00058.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Alley MD, Schimizze BR, Son SF. Experimental modeling of explosive blast-related traumatic brain injuries. Neuroimage. 2011; doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.05.03.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Zhu F, Wagner C, Dal Cengio Leonardi A, Jin X, VandeVord P, Chou C, Yang KH, King AI. Using a gel/plastic surrogate to study the biomechanical response of the head under air shock loading: a combined experimental and numerical investigation. Biomech Model Mechanobiol. 2012; doi:10.1007/s10237-011-0314-2.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Akula P. Blast induced traumatic brain injury: role of ear openings. Masters thesis; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; USA; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ganpule S, Gu L, Alai A, Chandra N. Role of helmet in the mechanics of shock wave propagation under blast loading conditions. Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Engin. 2012; doi:10.1080/10255842.2011.597353.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Abaqus benchmark manual. Providence; Rhode Island; USA; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Zhang L, Yang KH, Kin, AI. Comparison of brain responses between frontal and lateral impacts by finite element modeling. J Neurotrauma. 2001; 18(1):21–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Sundaramurthy A, Alai A, Ganpule S, Holmberg A, Plougonven E, Chandra N. Blast-induced biomechanical loading of the rat: an experimental and anatomically accurate computational blast injury model. J Neurotrauma. 2012; doi:10.1089/neu.2012.2413.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Chafi MS, Dirisala V, Karami G, Ziejewski M. A finite element method parametric study of the dynamic response of the human brain with different cerebrospinal fluid constitutive properties. Proc Inst Mech Eng H. 2009; 223(8):1003–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Hua Y, Akula P, Gu L. Experimental and numerical investigation of carbon fiber sandwich panels subjected to blast loading. Compos Part B Eng. 2014; 56(1):456–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Nahum AM. Intracranial pressure dynamics during head impact. Conf Proc Stapp Car Crash. 1977; doi:10.4271/770922.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Chen Y, Ostoja-Starzewski M. MRI-based finite element modeling of head trauma: spherically focusing shear waves. Acta Mech. 2010; 213(1):155–67.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Morest DK, Bohne BA. Noise-induced degeneration in the brain and representation of inner and outer hair cells. Hear Res. 1983; 9(2):145–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zalewski T. Experimentelle Untersuchungen uber die Resistenzfahigkeit des Trommelfells. Z Ohrenheilkd. 1906; 52(1):109.

    Google Scholar 

  22. James DJ, Pickett VC, Burdette KJ, Cheesman A. The response of the human ear to blast, part 1: the effect on the ear drum of a short duration, fast rising pressure wave. AWRE/CDE Report No. 04/82; 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Keller AP. A study of the relationship of air pressure to myringorupture. Laryngoscope. 1958; 68(12):2015–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hirsch FG. Effects of overpressure on the ear: a review. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1968; 152(1):147–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Richmond DR, Yelverton JT, Fletcher ER, Phillips YY. Physical correlates of eardrum rupture. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol Suppl. 1989; 140(1):35–41.

    Google Scholar 

  26. White CS, Bowen IG, Richmond DR. The relation between eardrum failure and blast-induced pressure variations. Space Life Sci. 1970; 2(2):158–205.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Kringlebotn M. Rupture pressures of membranes in the ear. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2000; 109(10):940–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0656, USA

    Praveen Akula & Yi Hua

  2. Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0656, USA

    Linxia Gu

Authors
  1. Praveen Akula
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yi Hua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Linxia Gu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Linxia Gu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Akula, P., Hua, Y. & Gu, L. Blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury through ear canal: A finite element study. Biomed. Eng. Lett. 5, 281–288 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-015-0204-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-015-0204-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation