Anti-confocal versus confocal assessment of the middle ear simulated by Monte Carlo methods
David S Jung1, John A Crowe2, John P Birchall3
1National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, 113 The Ropewalk, Nottingham, NG1 5DU, UK ; Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
Abstract:
The ability to monitor the inflammatory state of the middle ear mucosa would provide clinical utility. To enable spectral measurements on the mucosa whilst rejecting background signal from the eardrum an anti-confocal system is investigated. In contrast to the central pinhole in a confocal system the anti-confocal system uses a central stop to reject light from the in-focus plane, the eardrum, with all other light detected. Monte Carlo simulations of this system show an increase in detected signal and improved signal-to-background ratio compared to a conventional confocal set-up used to image the middle ear mucosa. System parameters are varied in the simulation and their influence on the level of background rejection are presented.
