Digital Ear Canal Scanning Technology

To address the Navy need for a more accurate and robust digital technology for the measurement of ear canal geometry and improvement of the fit and noise attenuation of individual earplugs for flight deck teams, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Digital Ear Canal Scanning Technology (DECST). This non-contact, not ionizing technology is based on en-face Optical Coherent Tomography. The innovations in optical design and image processing algorithms will enable measuring ear canal geometry in less than three minutes with an accuracy better than 0.01 mm, and mapping the underlying tissues. This digital technology will allow improved computer earplug design, easy data dissemination and archiving, and onsite earplug fabrication using already developed digital stereo-lithography. It will greatly reduce the logistic burden associated with equipment maintenance for crew noise protection. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the DECST feasibility by the design, assembly, and demonstration of operation of the experimental prototype. In Phase II, POC plans to develop an engineering prototype and obtain protocol approval for testing the prototype operation on humans.