Finite element model for patient-specific functional simulations of cochlear implants

Abstract

We present an innovative image analyisis pipeline to perform/npatient-speci c biomechanical and functional simulations of the inner human/near. A high-resolution, cadaveric, mCT volumetric image portraying/nthe detailed geometry of the cochlea is converted into a mesh in order to/nbuild a Finite Element Method (FEM). The constitutive model for the/nFEM is based on a Navier-Stokes formulation for compressible Newtonian/n/nuid, coupled with an elastic solid model. The simulation includes/n/nuid-structure interactions. Further to this, the FEM mesh is deformed/nto a patient-speci c low-resolution Cone Beam CT (CBCT) dataset to/npropagate functional information to the speci c anatomy of the patient./nIllustrative results of how the FE-model responds to various acoustic/nstimuli are shown by analyzing the tonotopic mapping of the cochlear/nmembrane vibration.