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

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• 作者：Hamid Motallebzadeh ; Nima Maftoon&#8230
• 关键词：admittance ; external ear canal ; middle ear ; newborns ; infants ; finite ; element model ; linear material properties ; sensitivity analysis ; clinical measurements ; frequency response
• 刊名：Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：18
• 期：1
• 页码：25-48
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Medicine
• 刊物主题：Otorhinolaryngology; Neurosciences; Neurobiology;
• 出版者：Springer US
• ISSN：1438-7573
• 卷排序：18

文摘

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.