Measuring the vibrational response of the mouse ear using coherently interleaved optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is becoming a popular tool for imaging morphology in the middle and inner ear. Vibratory measurements of the structures of the ear facilitate better understanding of the function and limitations of the ear. We have developed an algorithm that enables a standard spectrometer based OCT system to measure the full spectrum (90 kHz) frequency response of the mouse ear by incorporating coherently interleaved sampling, increasing the effective Nyquist rate of the system by a factor of 5+. The algorithm is evaluated by measuring the frequency response of a mouse tympanic membrane to a pure tone stimulus.