Abstract
It is important to evaluate stapes mobility in tympanoplasty surgery, because it affects the prognosis of improvement of the hearing level. In this study, a new hand-guided apparatus was developed by assembling a small-sized force sensor and a hydraulic micromanipulator. Then, the mobility of stapes in humans was measured. In addition, the nobilities of incus and malleus in guinea pigs are also measured under the condition that the stapes was artificially fixed with glue being applied to the annular ligament to simulate otosclerosis. The load-displacement curve obtained from the normal stapes was different from that obtained from the fixed stapes. This result suggests that a surgeon can quantitatively analyze stapes mobility with this apparatus during surgery.
