Human middle-ear nonlinearity measurements using laser Doppler vibrometry

It has long been supposed that the middle-ear has near to perfect linear characteristics, and several attempts have been made to investigate this hypothesis. In conclusion, the middle-ear was regarded as a linear system at least up till sound pressure levels of 120 dB. Because of the linear relationship between Doppler shift of light and the vibration velocity of the object on which the light is reflected, laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) is an intrinsically highly linear measurement technique. Therefore it allows straightforward detection of very small nonlinearities in a vibration response. In this paper, laser Doppler vibrometry and multisine stimulation are used to detect nonlinear distortions in the vibration response at the umbo of the tympanic membrane of seven human cadaver temporal bones. Nonlinear distortions were detected starting from sound pressure levels of 99 dB and measurements were performed up to 120 dB. These distortions can be subdivided into even degree (e.g. quadratic distortion tones) and odd degree nonlinear distortions (e.g. cubic distortion tones). We illustrate that with odd multisine stimulation the level of even and odd degree nonlinear distortions can be investigated separately. In conclusion, laser Doppler vibrometry is an adequate tool to detect nonlinear distortions in the middle-ear system and to quantify the level of such distortions even at 57 dB below the vibration response. The possibility to analyze even degree and odd degree nonlinear distortion levels separately can help in future work to pinpoint the source of the nonlinearity.