TY  - JOUR
U1  - Zeitschriftenartikel, wissenschaftlich - begutachtet (reviewed)
A1  - Sackmann, Benjamin
A1  - Dalhoff, Ernst
A1  - Lauxmann, Michael
T1  - Model-based hearing diagnosis based on wideband tympanometry measurements utilizing fuzzy arithmetic
JF  - Hearing research
N2  - Today's audiometric methods for the diagnosis of middle ear disease are often based on a comparison of measurements with standard curves that represent the statistical range of normal hearing responses. Because of large inter-individual variances in the middle ear, especially in wideband tympanometry (WBT), specificity and quantitative evaluation are greatly restricted. A new model-based approach could transform  today's predominantly qualitative hearing diganostics into a quantitative and tailored, patient-specific diagnosis, by evaluating WBT measurements with the aid of a middle-ear model. For this particular investigation, a finite element model of a human ear was used. It consisted of an acoustic ear canal and a tympanic cavity model, a middle-ear with detailed nonlinear models of the tympanic membrane and annular ligament, and a simplified inner-ear model. This model has made it possible to identify pathologies from measurements, by analyzing the parameters through senstivity studies and parameter clustering. Uncertainties due to the lack of knowledge, subjectivity in numerical implementation and model simplification are taken into account by the application of fuzzy arithmetic. The most confident parameter set can be determined by applying an inverse fuzzy method on the measurement data. The principle and the benefits of this model-based approach are illustrated by the example of a two-mass oscillator, and also by the simulation of the energy absorbance of an ear with malleus fixation, where the parameter changes that are introduced can be determined quantitatively through the system identification.
KW  - middle-ear model
KW  - patient-specific diagnostic
KW  - wideband tympanometry
KW  - fuzzy arithmetic
Y1  - 2019
SN  - 0378-5955
SS  - 0378-5955
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2019.02.011
DO  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2019.02.011
VL  - 378
SP  - 126
EP  - 138
S1  - 13
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -