The malleus and incus in the human middle ear are linked by the incudo-malleolar joint (IMJ). The mobility of the human IMJ under physiologically relevant acoustic stimulation and its functional role in middle-ear sound transmission are still debated. In this study, spatial stapes motions were measured during acoustic stimulation (0.25-8 kHz) in six fresh human temporal bones for two conditions...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To prospectively evaluate surgical findings and hearing results in children undergoing surgery for congenital malformations of the ossicular chain with a mobile stapes footplate (Teunissen and Cremers class III malformations). STUDY DESIGN A nonrandomized, nonblinded, prospective case series. METHODS Fifteen consecutive pediatric patients who underwent 17 surgical proc...

Piston stapes prostheses are implanted in patients with refractory conductive or mixed hearing loss due to stapes otosclerosis to stimulate the perilymph with varying degrees of success. The overclosure effect described by the majority of researchers affects mainly low and medium frequencies, and a large number of patients report a lack of satisfactory results for frequencies above 2 kHz. The m...

It was shown that the mode of vibration of the stapes has a predominant piston component but rotations producing tilt of the footplate are also present. Tilt and piston components vary with frequency. Separately it was shown that the pressure gain between ear canal and scala vestibuli was a remarkably flat and smooth function of frequency. Is tilt functional contributing to the pressure in the ...

After stapes surgery, patients with mixed or moderate hearing loss have limited possibilities for hearing improvement. We are reporting on a patient who underwent stapedotomy bilaterally 20 years ago and had sensorineural and mixed hearing loss. Recurrent otitis externa prevented the use of hearing aids. This patient was treated bilaterally with the Vibrant Soundbridge (Med-El, Innsbruck, Austr...

The article gives an overview of the historical development of stapedectomy beginning with Kessel in 1876. Then, from the beginning to the middle of the 20th century, surgery on the oval window became obsolete, opening the way for an era of fenestration operations until Shea in 1956 performed the first modern stapedectomy using a Teflon stapes replacement prosthesis. Since then, numerous surgeo...

Objective. To visually compare the Nitinol "smart" stapes prosthesis to conventional manual crimping stapes pistons in temporal bone cadaver specimens. Main Outcome Measures. 10 otolaryngologists were given a photograph of the randomly ordered stapes pistons and asked to use the pictures to answer questions about each stapes piston. The answers to the survey were then recorded for analysis. Res...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the results of application of 2 types of superelastic nitinol prostheses. STUDY DESIGN Temporal bones study with planned data collection. SETTING Tertiary referral center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Malleostapedotomy was performed in 15 human temporal bones implanting 3 different prostheses: manually crimping polytetrafluoroethylene (MC-PTFE) pisto...

role in alerting us to nearby activities, in the appreciation of music, and especially in human communication. Airborne sounds vibrate the tympanum, which transmits the oscillations successively to the malleus, incus, and stapes of the middle ear. Moving like a piston, the last of these miniscule bones alternately increases and decreases the pressure within the cochlea, a chickpea-sized organ t...