THEORETICAL MODEL STUDIES OF WAVE TRANSMISSION IN THE SEMICIRCULAR CANALS

摘要

In order to study the propagation of pressure waves in the semicircular canals, a single canal is modeled as an elastic toroid located inside a rigid toroidal channel. The elastic toroid is filled with incompressible, inviscid fluid, and similar fluid fills the space between the elastic toroid and the rigid channel.nFirst, the system is studied using the potential flow equations to describe the motion of the fluids, and the membrane equation to describe the behavior of the elastic toroid. It is found that the equations of motion can be solved only by a great volume of numerical computation, an effort probably unwarranted since there is as yet no confirmation of the assumptions incorporated in the equations.