Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
Evaluation of Pulsatile Tinnitus Sound Conduction and the Effects of Ear Canal Occlusion; Playing Catch Up: How Preliminary Precaution Should Ethically & Responsibly Course Correct Modern Medicine108 views
Author
Mack, Anna, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia
Advisors
Cottler, Patrick, MD-OTLY OTO-Dept, University of Virginia
Allen, Timothy, EN-Biomed Engr Dept, University of Virginia
Laugelli, Benjamin, EN-Engineering and Society, University of Virginia
Abstract
Pulsatile tinnitus (PST) is a vascular subtype of tinnitus characterized by perception of a rhythmic, cardiac-synchronized sound arising from turbulent venous blood flow within the sigmoid sinus. While computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models have advanced the mechanistic understanding of PST, physical validation platforms remain lacking. Additionally, the acoustic basis of ear canal occlusion as a modulator of PST sound perception and diagnosis, a clinically observed but poorly understood phenomenon, has not been rigorously characterized. This work describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of a patient-specific compliant silicone phantom of the sigmoid sinus for use in benchtop pulsatile flow and acoustic testing. Patient-specific geometry was derived from contrast-enhanced CT imaging via segmentation and mesh refinement and incorporated into a custom three-piece mold system. A water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) sacrificial core was fabricated using fused deposition modeling and used to define the vessel lumen during casting of EcoFlex 00-20 silicone. Following curing, aqueous dissolution of the PVA core produced a hollow, compliant phantom preserving the tortuous sigmoid sinus anatomy with an approximately 2 mm wall thickness. The phantom was integrated into a closed-loop peristaltic flow system for future hemodynamic and acoustic testing. This work establishes the first reproducible end-to-end fabrication workflow linking CT-derived anatomy to a physiologically faithful physical model, providing a foundation for validating CFD simulations and investigating the acoustic effects of ear canal occlusion in PST.
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering
Technical Advisor: Patrick Cottler, PhD
STS Advisor: Benjamin Laugelli, PhD
Technical Team Members: Ethan Yu
Language
English
Rights
All rights reserved by the author (no additional license for public reuse)
Mack, Anna. Evaluation of Pulsatile Tinnitus Sound Conduction and the Effects of Ear Canal Occlusion; Playing Catch Up: How Preliminary Precaution Should Ethically & Responsibly Course Correct Modern Medicine. University of Virginia, School of Engineering and Applied Science, BS (Bachelor of Science), 2026-05-07, https://doi.org/10.18130/ys8n-nj26.
