Stochastic Finite Element Modelling of Human Middle-Ear

Abstract

Modelling the mechanics of the middle-ear is important as it can extend our knowledge about the hearing process and enable us to develop new devices for the treatment and diagnosis of hearing disabilities. Most of the works in the literature of the modelling of middle-ear mechanics are focused on deterministic models. These models cannot consider the variability of input parameters that can happen due to the stochastic nature of the mechanical properties of tissues and variability between individuals. Stochastic models can consider the variability in the parameters and make us able to have more realistic representations of the physiology.  In this work, we present a stochastic Finite Element Method (FEM) model of the human middle-ear. We considered uncertainty in all mechanical properties and some geometrical properties of the middle-ear model and studied the effects of these uncertainties on the uncertainties of the outputs of the model.