Modelling the malleus vibration as a rigid body motion with one rotational and one translational degree of freedom.
Vibration of a set of points distributed along the manubrium of cat was measured with a heterodyne interferometer in response to sinusoidal acoustic signals. The observed motion did not fit pure rotation of the malleus around a fixed axis coinciding with the anterior mallar and posterior incudal ligament as is classically assumed. As a first approximation a model of motion consisting of a rotational and a translational component was used. At low frequencies the rotation is mostly predominant, but the situation may be entirely reversed at mid and high frequencies. The presence of a translation besides rotation was also found at some frequencies in the motion of the human malleus.
Decraemer
W F
WF
Laboratory of Biomedical Physics, University of Antwerp, Rijksuniversitair Centrum Antwerpen, Belgium.
Khanna
S M
SM
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008307:Malleus / Q000502:physiology*; D008371:Manubrium / Q000502:physiology; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009038:Motion; D012399:Rotation; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D014732:Vibration