Evaluating fit of an earpiece based on dynamic data
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsDouglas P. Hart, Federico Frigerio, Douglas M. Johnston, Manas C. Menon, Daniel Vlasic
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Abstract
The attenuation and other optical properties of a medium are exploited to measure a thickness of the medium between a sensor and a target surface. Disclosed herein are various mediums, arrangements of hardware, and processing techniques that can be used to capture these thickness measurements and obtain dynamic three-dimensional images of the target surface in a variety of imaging contexts. This includes general techniques for imaging interior/concave surfaces as well as exterior/convex surfaces, as well as specific adaptations of these techniques to imaging ear canals, human dentition, and so forth.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- obtaining static data from an ear canal of a subject with a three-dimensional scanner, the static data including a three-dimensional image of a surface of the ear canal at a predetermined pressure;
- obtaining dynamic data from the ear canal of the subject with a three-dimensional scanner, the dynamic data including data from the ear canal characterizing changes in a shape of the ear canal related to a compliance of the ear canal to changes in pressurization and a shape change of the ear canal in response to a musculoskeletal movement of a head of the subject;
- providing a three-dimensional model of an earpiece;
- evaluating a fit of the three-dimensional model of the earpiece to the ear canal with a simulation executing on a processor based on the static data and the dynamic data;
- and
- modifying a characteristic of the three-dimensional model to improve the fit based on the evaluation of the fit by the processor.
A computer program product comprising computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:
- receiving static data for an ear canal of a subject from a three-dimensional scanner, the static data including a three-dimensional image of a surface of the ear canal at a predetermined pressure;
- receiving dynamic data for the ear canal of the subject from the three-dimensional scanner, the dynamic data including data from the ear canal characterizing changes in a shape of the ear canal related to a compliance of the ear canal to changes in pressurization and a shape change of the ear canal in response to a musculoskeletal movement of a head of the subject;
- providing a three-dimensional model of an earpiece;
- evaluating a fit of the three-dimensional model of the earpiece to the ear canal based on the static data and the dynamic data;
- and
- modifying a characteristic of the three-dimensional model to improve the fit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.