NUMERICAL ANALYSIS FOR TYMPANOSTOMY TUBE IN HUMAN EAR

Tympanostomy tube is an effective treatment for secretoryotitis media. There have been very few analyses of the biomechanicalbehavior of the ventilation tube. In this paper, a three-dimensional finiteelement model of the human ear is established, including the external earcanal, tympanic membrane, tympanostomy tube, ossicular bones, middleear suspensory ligaments/ muscles, and inner ear fluid, which can describe thecomplicated structures and boundary conditions. The finite element model isused to analyze the displacement change of tympanic membrane and stapesfootplate. At the same time, it is found that the presence of tympanostomytube significantly affects the displacement vibration of the tube. Theeffect of tympanostomy tube on sound transmission is explained based onnumerical method. The results may be useful to the therapy of secretoryotitis media and the design of ventilation tube.