Optical coherence tomography of the middle ear

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Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging modality for imaging the middle ear. It**allows middle ear structures and their response to sound to be imaged through the intact**eardrum. This technology represents an exciting new direction in the diagnosis of conductive**hearing loss, an area which to date has largely had to be done "blind" due to the inadequacy**of available imaging technologies. As the first research group to demonstrate clinical OCT**imaging of the whole middle ear and middle ear vibrometry in vivo, we are well placed to**advance this technology and have proposed a multi-faceted research plan to improve and**clinically validate our prototype imaging system. We will be re-engineering our OCT system**into an endoscopic form factor, adding new contrast mechanisms and working to improve**image quality. These improvements will harness many new advances in OCT imaging**technology including synthetic aperture focusing, compressed sensing, polarization-sensitive**OCT and variance-based microangiography, none of which have been used before in the ear.**Our efforts to improve the engineering in our clinical system will be complemented by the**construction of a preclinical OCT system specifically designed for measurements on human**temporal bones, the most important model for pre-clinical validation of middle ear therapies.**On the clinical side we will be pursuing both quantitative and qualitative patient research at**two sites to determine the technology's effectiveness in providing useful diagnostic**information for patients suffering from conductive hearing loss. Our collaborators include**world-leading experts in middle ear mechanics and disease from the US and Canada. Over**the entire course of the project we will work closely with our Knowledge Translation partner,**Conavi Medical, to move the device towards regulatory approval and onto the market, with**the results of clinical research and engineering informing the ultimate device design and use.