This is a demonstration of Tympanometry and tympanometry is the assessment
of the tympanic membrane
and the middle ear. This is a tymponometer.
This is a screening tymponometer. There are several different kinds, but this one is a
screening one. It has several different parts. There is some buttons right here,
a display screen right here and a probe, right here is the probe. The probe has
several different parts. It has a loudspeaker that emits a low-frequency probe tone into the
external auditory canal. It also has an air pressure manometer that can change
the air pressure and in the external auditory canal and also has a microphone that picks up
that low frequency probe tone from the external auditory canal. And this is
what we call a probe tip. It's important to get the correct size of
probe tip so we can create an airtight seal in the external auditory canal
because we can't do the tests without an airtight seal. So I'm gonna put the probe tip
on the probe just like that. So here is a model of the ear. Here's the pina, the external
auditory canal, the tympanic membrane the middle ear space and the inner ear. So
what I'm going to do as I'm gonna place the probe into the opening of the
external auditory canal, then low-frequency, a low frequency tone, will
be presented in to the external auditory canal.
It will travel through it. It'll hit the tympanic membrane and some sound
energy will be absorbed by the middle ear and travel into the inner ear and some
sound energy will be reflected back and picked up by the microphone in the probe.
So basically what we're doing is we are assessing the efficacy of sound
traveling through the middle ear. And if there were a middle ear pathology such
as a middle ear infection, where there's fluid in the middle ear, space right here,
the tympanic membrane will be stiffened. And the, as the sound travels through
the ear canal and hits the tympanic membrane, less energy will be absorbed by the middle
ear and more energy will be reflected back and picked up by the probe. But on
the other hand, if we had a pathology, such as a break in the ossicular
chain, more of that sound energy would be absorbed and less sound would be picked
up at the microphone. This is the demonstration at the procedure of
tympanometry. In the first thing that you're going to do, is a physical examination of
the external auditory canal into panic membrane and that's called an
ostoscopy.
But what I'm going to do now is I'm going to look in your ears, so if at any point you feel
uncomfortable just let me know. I'm going to pull your ear up and back. Ok, looks good.
This test is called tympanometry and what we're doing is we're assessing the function of
your tympanic membrane and your middle ear. So what I'm gonna be doing is
placing this little tip in the opening of your ear canal. You're going to feel a
little bit of pressure like you're going up over a mountain or up in an airplane, but you
don't have to do anything at all. All you have to do is sit still and quiet for me.
This is an example of a normal tympanogram with an ear canal volume of
1.5, a static acoustic admittance of 0.8% and -15 decapascals. You can see that it has a peak there
and that's normal as well. Ok, after you're finished you can print out the results
and here's an example of what the results may look like.