Real-time structured light-based otoscopy for quantitative measurement of eardrum deformation

An otological profilometry device based on real-time structured light triangulation is presented. A clinical otoscope head is mounted onto a custom-handheld unit containing both a small digital light projector and a high-speed digital camera. Digital fringe patterns are projected onto the eardrum surface and are recorded at a rate of 120 unique frames per second. The relative angle between projection and camera axes causes the projected patterns to appear deformed by the eardrum shape, allowing its full-field three-dimensional (3-D) surface map to be reconstructed. By combining hardware triggering between projector and camera with a dedicated parallel processing pipeline, the proposed system is capable of acquiring a live stream of point clouds of over 300,000 data points per frame at a rate of 40 Hz. Real-time eardrum profilometry adds an additional dimension of depth to the standard two-dimensional otoscopy image and provides a noninvasive tool to enhance the qualitative depth perception of the clinical operator with quantitative 3-D data. Visualization of the eardrum from different perspectives can improve the diagnosis of existing and the detection of impending middle ear pathology. The capability of the device to detect small middle ear pressure changes by monitoring eardrum deformation in real time is demonstrated.