Optical coherence tomography of the middle ear

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging modality for imaging the middle ear. Itallows middle ear structures and their response to sound to be imaged through the intacteardrum. This technology represents an exciting new direction in the diagnosis of conductivehearing loss, an area which to date has largely had to be done "blind" due to the inadequacyof available imaging technologies. As the first research group to demonstrate clinical OCTimaging of the whole middle ear and middle ear vibrometry in vivo, we are well placed toadvance this technology and have proposed a multi-faceted research plan to improve andclinically validate our prototype imaging system. We will be re-engineering our OCT systeminto an endoscopic form factor, adding new contrast mechanisms and working to improveimage quality. These improvements will harness many new advances in OCT imagingtechnology including synthetic aperture focusing, compressed sensing, polarization-sensitiveOCT 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 theconstruction of a preclinical OCT system specifically designed for measurements on humantemporal 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 attwo sites to determine the technology's effectiveness in providing useful diagnosticinformation for patients suffering from conductive hearing loss. Our collaborators includeworld-leading experts in middle ear mechanics and disease from the US and Canada. Overthe 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, withthe results of clinical research and engineering informing the ultimate device design and use.