On the Influence of Mechanical Behavior of the Middle Ear Ligaments: a Finite Element Analysis

On the Influence of Mechanical Behavior of the Middle Ear Ligaments: a Finite Element Analysis Fernanda Gentil1, Renato Natal Jorge2, António Joaquim Mendes Ferreira3 Marco Parente4, Pedro Martins5, Eurico de Almeida6 Summary The interest in finite element method (FEM) concerning biomechanics has been increasing, in particular, to analyze the mechanical behavior of the human ear. In this work, a finite element model of the middle ear was made. A dynamic study based on a structural response to harmonic vibrations, for different sound pressure levels, applied on the eardrum, is presented using the ABAQUS program. The model includes different ligaments and muscle tendons with elastic and hyperelastic behavior of these supportive structure. The non-linear behavior of the ligaments and muscle tendons was considered, being the connection between ossicles done by contact formulation. Harmonic responses of the umbo and stapes footplate displacements, from 100 Hz to 10 kHz, were obtained and compared with previous published works. The traction of ligaments (superior and anterior of malleus and superior and posterior of incus) was analyzed with a focus on their importance from a structural point of view. The results of this work allow to emphasize the importance on the use of hyperelastic models to simulate the mechanical behavior for the ligaments and tendons.