The creation of geometric three-dimensional models of the inner ear based on micro computer tomography data

The modeling of the mechanical process of hearing requires an accurate geometrical model of the inner ear (cochlea). The purpose of this study was the creation of a 3-D model of the fluid chambers of Guinea pig cochlea, which could serve as a basis for further mechanical modeling. Micro computer tomography used in this study is a noninvasive method to visualize bony structures. The visualization of the membranous labyrinth was achieved by additional staining of the specimen with OsO(4). The resulting stack of images has been transformed into a cylindrical coordinate system. To suppress noise on tomography images, a nonlinear smoothing method, anisotropic diffusion, were applied. A new approach has been proposed to estimate algorithm parameters automatically. Then, a segmentation using active contours (snakes) was performed. In this study, a new energy linking the contours on adjacent slices has been added to the standard approach. This compensates the inconsistencies between adjacent contours. The images segmented in this way were used as a basis for a 3-D reconstruction of the hearing organ.