JP3330701B2 - Middle ear dynamic characteristics measurement and observation device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is intended to simultaneously display a tympanometry (measurement data of dynamic characteristics of the middle ear) and an eardrum image on a monitor TV to simultaneously perform quantitative evaluation and observation of eardrum mobility. The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring and observing dynamic characteristics of a middle ear.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to record and display the measurement data of the dynamic characteristics of the middle ear, a probe for measuring the dynamic characteristics of the middle ear is inserted into the external auditory canal, and one of the two sound guide holes in the probe body is used. One of them is connected to an air pump to pressurize or depressurize the ear canal, convert the audible range oscillation signal into a sound of a constant sound pressure with an earphone, and supply the sound to the ear canal through one sound conducting hole in the probe main body. It is known that a microphone in a probe body measures a sound pressure change in an external auditory canal and a phase difference between a microphone and an earphone.
No. 7369 describes a method of displaying in two dimensions, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-37934 describes a method of displaying in three dimensions.

In order to observe the movement of the eardrum, an endoscope for the eardrum of about 3 to 5 mm is inserted into the external auditory canal, the eardrum is irradiated with light, and the other end is directly viewed through the internal lens. A method of connecting a video camera and playing back on a monitor TV is known.

[0004]

In the conventional method, since the display of the dynamic characteristic measurement data of the middle ear and the observation of the movement of the eardrum are performed separately, not only a long time is required for the measurement but also a long time is required for the measurement. However, there is a problem that the measurement data of the dynamic characteristics of the middle ear cannot be associated with the movement of the eardrum, and the interpretation of the measurement data of the dynamic characteristics is not performed correctly.

According to the present invention, by simultaneously measuring the dynamic characteristic of the middle ear and observing the movement of the eardrum, the measurement can be performed in a short time, and the dynamic characteristic measurement data can be correctly associated with the movement of the eardrum. It is an object to provide a simple device.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an image tube 5 for detecting an image of a sound conduit 54 and an eardrum 62 coupled to an impedance audiometer headset body 67.
Probe 5 which is inserted into the external auditory canal by incorporating 3 and 3 integrally
0 and the middle ear from the data measured through the sound conduit 54
A middle ear dynamic characteristic measuring circuit 71 for measuring the dynamic characteristic of
A video for converting the eardrum image detected by the image tube 53 into a video signal
The video camera 65, the middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit 71, and the video
By controlling the camera 65 and the middle ear dynamic characteristics and drum on the same screen
A dynamic characteristic measuring and observing apparatus for a middle ear, comprising: a monitor TV for simultaneously displaying an image of a film .

[0007]

The air from the air pump 23 is supplied to, for example, +210.
Probe 50 in the range of -300 daPa from daPa
The data is collected by pressurizing or depressurizing through the oscillator, and the oscillator 2 is controlled by the frequency control signal output circuit 38.
The frequency of 0 to a variable in 0~1800Hz rows that have a collection of data, the dynamic characteristics of the middle ear by the middle ear dynamic characteristic measuring circuit 71
Is measured. When displaying these data on the characteristic display unit 77 of the monitor TV 75, the movement of the middle ear 61 and the eardrum 62 is always detected by the image tube 53 integrated into the probe 50, and The small video camera 65
, And simultaneously displayed on the image display unit 76 on the same screen of the monitor TV 75 for observation and recorded by the video recording device 78.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 50 denotes a probe to be inserted into an ear canal 60. The probe 50 has a probe tube 51 having a diameter of about 5 mm and an image tube 5 having a diameter of about 4 mm.
3 and a sound conduit 54 having a diameter of about 1 mm and having a hollow inside, are inserted into the image tube 53. The sound conduit 54 projects outside at a position outside the ear canal insertion portion 52. As shown in FIG. 2, an ultrafine imaging fiber 56 having a diameter of several to several tens of μm is filled in a predetermined arrangement, and an imaging lens 57 is provided at a distal end portion.
A light source tube 55 inside the probe tube 51 and outside the image tube 53 and the sound conduit 54 is filled with a light source fiber 58. An earplug 59 is provided on the outer periphery of the distal end of the probe tube 51. In addition, 61 is a middle ear.

At the base end of the probe tube 51, the image fiber 56 is connected to a CCD through an image deriving unit 64.
And the like, and the light source fiber 58 is optically connected to the light source introducing portion 63. When the length of the image tube 53 is short, only a lens system such as an imaging lens 57 is provided, and the image tube 53 is directly optically coupled to a small video camera 65 such as a CCD via an image deriving unit 64. It may be. The protruding portion of the sound conduit 54 to the outside is connected to the air hole 68 of the impedance audiometer headset main body 67 via a sound guide connecting pipe 66. The air hole 68 is branched into three, one is a compressed air inlet, and the other two are a microphone 69 and an earphone 7.
These are connected to the middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit 71.

This middle ear dynamic characteristic measuring circuit 71 is connected to a monitor TV 75 and a video recording device 78 via a control circuit 72. The control circuit 72 has a control data input circuit 73, a small video camera 65, The light source unit 74 is connected. The monitor TV 75 includes a characteristic display section 77 for displaying data from the middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit 71 and an image display section 76 for displaying an image from the small video camera 65.

The three-dimensional display of the middle ear dynamic characteristic measuring circuit 71 has the same configuration as that described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-37934. That is, 20 is an oscillator, 21
Is a frequency adjuster, 22 is a power amplifier, 23 is an air pump, 24 is a preamplifier, 25 is a filter, 26 is a volume detection circuit, 27 is a phase difference meter, 30 is a pressure gauge, and 31 is an SPL.
An output terminal, 32 is a frequency output terminal, 33 is a pressure output terminal, 34 is a volume detection value output terminal, 35 is a phase difference output terminal, 38 is a frequency control signal output circuit, 39 is a pressure control signal output circuit, and 40 is pressure data. An input circuit; 41, a frequency / volume data input circuit; 42, a three-dimensional display processing circuit;
3 is a memory.

The probe 50 constructed as described above
It is inserted into the external auditory canal insertion part 52. At this time, the inside and the outside of the external auditory canal insertion part 52 are shut off by the earplug 59. In response to an instruction from the control data input circuit 73, the control circuit 72
Light having a predetermined illuminance, wavelength, and the like is generated from the light source unit 74 via the light source unit 74.
The 0 eardrum 62 is irradiated.

The reflected light from the eardrum 62 is transmitted to the imaging lens 57
And the image fiber 5 in the image tube 53
An image is formed at the tip of the camera 6 and sent from the video deriving unit 64 to the small video camera 65 via the image fiber 56. When the image tube 53 has only the lens system, the image is directly sent to the small video camera 65. In the small video camera 65, an image is converted into an electric signal by an element such as a CCD, and the electric signal is transmitted through a control circuit 72 to a monitor TV 75.
The image of the eardrum 62 is reproduced on the image display unit 76.

Next, measurement by the middle ear dynamic characteristic measuring circuit 71 will be described. The measurement order will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the peak pressure of the eardrum to be measured is measured. The control circuit 72, the frequency control signal output circuit 3
8, the frequency f of the oscillator 20 is set to a constant value.
Usually, 220 Hz is selected. This constant frequency f = 22
A signal having a sine waveform of 0 Hz is sent to the earphone 70 in the impedance audiometer headset main body 67 through the power amplifier 22, and is converted into a sound of a constant sound pressure by the earphone 70, and the air hole 68 of the impedance audiometer headset main body 67 is transmitted. , Through the connecting pipe 66 for sound conduction and the sound conduit 54 and into the external auditory canal 60.

Similarly, the air pump 23 is controlled through a control circuit 72 and a pressure control signal output circuit 39 in accordance with a command from a control data input circuit 73, and the air from the air pump 23 is supplied to the air hole 68 and the sound conducting connecting pipe. 66, is supplied to the ear canal 60 through the sound conduit 54, and the inside of the ear canal 60 is +
Pressurized in the range of 210 daPa to -300 daPa,
And reduce the pressure. The sound pressure change (impedance) in the external auditory canal 60 is detected by the microphone 69 in the impedance audiometer headset main body 67 and measured by the volume detection circuit 26 via the preamplifier 24 and the filter 25, and the earphone 70 and the microphone 69 are measured. Is measured by the phase difference meter 27.

Of these information, pressure data is stored in a memory 43 via a pressure data input circuit 40, and impedance is stored in a memory 43 via a frequency / volume data input circuit 41 via a three-dimensional display processing circuit 42. TV7
5 is displayed on the characteristic display section 77. From this data, the peak pressure Ps in the ear canal is measured. Ps at this time
Is set to 0, for example.

Next, the pressure is changed by, for example, 30 daPa in accordance with a command from the control data input circuit 73 through the control circuit 72 and the pressure control signal output circuit 39, and the control circuit 72 is controlled by a command from the control data input circuit 73. The frequency of the oscillator 20 is varied from 0 to 1800 Hz via the frequency control signal output circuit 38. Then, the characteristics in the characteristic display section 77 of FIG. 1 are obtained, and these data are stored in the memory 43 in the same manner as described above.

Similarly, data is obtained every 30 daPa until the peak pressure Ps = 0, and stored in the memory 43. When data is taken every 30 daPa, the peak pressure P
Since s = 0 may not be established, Ps = 0 is set and impedance measurement is performed in the same manner. Furthermore, this P
s is -300d every 30 daPa even on the minus side
The impedance is measured sequentially until it reaches aPa.

The data obtained in this manner is all stored in the memory 43, and based on the stored data,
In the dimension display processing circuit 42, for example, the monitor TV shown in FIG.
75, x, y, z
The frequency f, the pressure in the ear canal Ps, and the impedance (dB) are set on the axes, and the three-dimensional display is processed and displayed, and the movement of the middle ear 61 and the eardrum 62 is monitored.
Observation is made on the image display unit 76 of V75. Further, for example, in the two-dimensional display of the compliance C, as shown in the characteristic display section 77 of the monitor TV 75 in FIG. 3, the horizontal axis indicates the pressure (daPa), and the vertical axis indicates the compliance (C), and the characteristic line is displayed. At the same time, the movement of the middle ear 61 and the eardrum 62 is observed on the image display unit 76 of the monitor TV 75.

As described above, the air from the air pump 23 is pressurized or depressurized in the range of, for example, +210 daPa to -300 daPa to collect data.
Data is collected by varying the frequency of the oscillator 20 from 0 to 1800 Hz by the frequency control signal output circuit 38. These data are displayed on the characteristic display section 77 of the monitor TV 75.
When displaying on the monitor, the movement of the eardrum 62 is always detected by the image tube 53, and the movement is observed by the image display unit 76 of the monitor TV 75 via the small video camera 65 and recorded by the video recording device 78. You.

The data is not limited to the three-dimensional display as described above, but may be a two-dimensional display. In addition, the SPL from the SPL output terminal 31, the frequency and pressure output from the frequency output terminal 32 The pressure from the terminal 33, the volume detection value from the volume detection value output terminal 34, the phase difference from the phase difference output terminal 35, and the like are also displayed on the characteristic display section 77 of the monitor TV 75 as necessary.

Further, by the air pump 23, for example,
The pressure is changed in the range of +500 to -500 daPa at a cycle of 0.5 to 2 Hz, and the movement of the eardrum 62 at this time is detected by the image tube 53, and this is detected via the small video camera 65 and the image display section of the monitor TV 75. At the same time, observation is made without time delay at 76 and the video recording device 78
Can also be recorded. In addition, +500 to -500
When the pressure change of daPa is gradually changed like a sine wave, it is not only appropriately changed such as a linear change, but also the movement of the eardrum 62 is observed by simultaneously changing the pressure and the cycle. good.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the probe 50 has a hollow sound conduit 5 inside a probe tube 51.
4, the image tube 53, and the light source tube 55 filled with the light source fiber 58 are integrally provided. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As shown in FIG.
Alternatively, the hollow sound conduit 54, the image tube 53, and the light source tube 55 filled with the light source fiber 58 may be independently arranged.

[0024]

(1) In the conventional method, since the display of the dynamic characteristic measurement data of the middle ear and the observation of the movement of the eardrum 62 are separately performed, a long time is required for the measurement. . However, in the present invention, the impedance audio
Sound conduit 54 and eardrum coupled to the headset body 67
And an image tube 53 for detecting the image 62
A probe 50 which is inserted into the external auditory canal
Measures middle ear dynamics from data measured through tube 54
Of the middle ear dynamic characteristic measuring circuit 71 and the image tube 53
Video camera 65 that converts the detected eardrum image into a video signal
And the middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit 71 and the video camera 65
To control the image of the middle ear dynamics and the eardrum on the same screen
Since it has a monitor TV that displays simultaneously,
Data is collected via the 50 and the middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement
The dynamic characteristics of the middle ear are measured by the path 71, and these data are
When displaying on the characteristic display section 77 of the monitor TV 75
Always measures the movement of the middle ear 61 and the eardrum 62 with the probe 5
0 is detected by the image tube 53 integrated into the
The same as the monitor TV 75 via the small video camera 65
Simultaneously display and observe on the image display unit 76 on the screen
With the video recording device 78
You. Therefore, the observation of the findings of the eardrum 62 and the display of the measured value by the middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit 71 can be performed simultaneously, and the examination time is greatly saved.

(2) Interpretation of the measurement data by the middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit 71 can be performed correctly by associating the measurement data of the middle ear dynamic characteristic with the movement of the eardrum 62, and artifacts are excluded from the data. Data accuracy is significantly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing one embodiment of a device for measuring and observing dynamic characteristics of a middle ear according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a probe tube 51 in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit 71;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 20 oscillator, 21 frequency adjuster, 22 power amplifier, 23 air pump, 24 preamplifier, 25 filter, 26 volume detection circuit, 27 phase difference meter, 30 pressure gauge, 31 SPL output terminal, 32 ... frequency output terminal
33: Pressure output terminal, 34: Volume detection value output terminal, 35
... Phase difference output terminal, 38 ... Frequency control signal output circuit, 3
9: pressure control signal output circuit, 40: pressure data input circuit, 41: frequency / volume data input circuit, 42: three-dimensional display processing circuit, 43: memory, 50: probe, 51 ...
Probe tube, 52 ... ear canal insertion part, 53 ... image tube,
54: sound conduit, 55: light source tube, 56: image fiber, 57: imaging lens, 58: light source fiber, 59:
Earplugs, 60 ... ear canal, 61 ... middle ear, 62 ... eardrum, 63 ...
Light source introduction part, 64 ... Video derivation part, 65 ... Small video camera, 66 ... Sound conduction connection pipe, 67 ... Impedance audiometer headset main body, 68 ... Air hole part, 69 ...
Microphone, 70 earphone, 71 middle ear dynamic characteristic measurement circuit, 72 control circuit, 73 data input circuit, 74
Light source unit, 75: monitor TV, 76: image display unit, 7
7 ... characteristic display unit, 78 ... video recording device.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-59-183734 (JP, A) JP-A-5-27184 (JP, A) JP-A-60-184509 (JP, U) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 5/12 A61B 1/00 300 A61B 1/227 A61F 11/00 350

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] A sound conduit coupled to an impedance audiometer headset body and an image tube for detecting an image of an eardrum are integrally incorporated into an external device.
The probe 50 inserted into the ear canal and the sound conduit 54
Middle ear movement measuring the dynamic characteristics of the middle ear from previously measured data
A characteristic measuring circuit 71 and a drum detected by the image tube 53
A video camera 65 for converting a film image into a video signal;
By controlling the ear dynamic characteristic measuring circuit 71 and the video camera 65
Simultaneous display of middle ear dynamics and eardrum images on the same screen
An apparatus for measuring and observing dynamic characteristics of a middle ear, comprising: 2. An impedance audiometer headset.
The main body 67 supplies pressure-controlled air into the ear canal.
The air hole 68 has a predetermined sound.
An earphone 70 that converts it into a sound of pressure and supplies it into the middle ear canal;
A microphone 69 for detecting a change in sound pressure in the middle ear canal is provided.
2. The measurement of dynamic characteristics of the middle ear according to claim 1, wherein
And observation equipment. 3. A probe 50, the interior of the probe tube 51, the hollow of the sound guiding tube 54, an image tube 53, formed by including a light source tube 55 filled with a light source for fiber 58 according to claim 1 or 2, wherein A measurement and observation device for the dynamic characteristics of the middle ear. 4. The image tube 53 is provided with a lens system in the interior of the hollow tube, a video camera the lens system optically 6
Dynamics of 5 CCD to become attached claim 1, wherein the middle ear of measurement and observation equipment. 5. An image tube 53 includes an image fiber 56 filled in a predetermined arrangement therein, and the image fiber 56 is optically connected to a CCD of a video camera 65.
4. The apparatus for measuring and observing dynamic characteristics of the middle ear according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein