INFLUENCE OF THE EARDRUM STIFFNESS ON THE MIDDLE EAR SOUND FUNCTION TRANSFER

The study has been developed by means of a FEM of the middle ear. This model was previously validated with experimental data. It is composed by the tympanic membrane, osicular chain, ligaments and tendons support. The cochlear load is simulated with a mechanical equivalent system (damper-mass-damper), and the properties values of materials are taken from the literature according to commonly accepted values [Caminos, 2011]. A sound presure level of 80 dB is applied on the tympanic membrane and the stape footplate velocity is calculated using a harmonic analisys in a frecuency range from 100 to 10 KHz. SVFT is the ratio between the stape footplate velocity and pressure over the tympanic membrane. This parameter is directly proportional to the middle ear acoustic admittance. It is calculated with different values of eardrum Young´s modulus (YM), in the frequency range studied.