Overview

• Intraoperative OCT measured endolymph levels in 19 surgical patients and confirmed that higher fluid imbalance correlates with greater hearing loss severity.
• Modified spectral-domain OCT on freshly harvested human cochlear samples revealed reduced contrast in areas of presumed sensory cell loss and maintained structure in regions with normal hearing.
• The adapted OCT system delivers faster, more precise and more affordable imaging of inner-ear fluids and hair-cell structures than conventional MRI diagnostics.
• Researchers are miniaturizing the OCT hardware and improving image-processing algorithms to enable noninvasive scans without removing the mastoid bone.
• Clinical feasibility trials are being planned to test in vivo OCT applications and to explore its potential for monitoring emerging hearing-restoration therapies such as gene treatments.