title: Miniature, minimally invasive, tunable endoscope for investigation of the middle ear.
abstract: We demonstrate a miniature, tunable, minimally invasive endoscope for diagnosis of the auditory system. The probe is designed to sharply image anatomical details of the middle ear without the need for physically adjusting the position of the distal end of the endoscope. This is achieved through the addition of an electrowetted, tunable, electronically-controlled lens to the optical train. Morphological imaging is enabled by scanning light emanating from an optical coherence tomography system. System performance was demonstrated by imaging part of the ossicular chain and wall of the middle ear cavity of a normal mouse. During the experiment, we electronically moved the plane of best focus from the incudo-stapedial joint to the stapedial artery. Repositioning the object plane allowed us to image anatomical details of the middle ear beyond the depth of field of a static optical system. We also demonstrated for the first time to our best knowledge, that an optical system with an electrowetted, tunable lens may be successfully employed to measure sound-induced vibrations within the auditory system by measuring the vibratory amplitude of the tympanic membrane in a normal mouse in response to pure tone stimuli.
authors.affiliation: William Marsh Rice University, Department of Bioengineering, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Michal E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Pawlowski
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Sebina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Jesung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Applegate
authors.affiliation: Stanford University, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 801 Welch Road, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Oghalai
authors.affiliation: William Marsh Rice University, Department of Bioengineering, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Tomasz S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Tkaczyk
keywords: (110.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (120.7280) Vibration analysis; (170.0170) Medical optics and biotechnology; (170.2150) Endoscopic imaging; (170.4580) Optical diagnostics for medicine; (170.4940) Otolaryngology; (220.0220) Optical design and fabrication