Capacitive-Based Contact Sensing for Office-Based Ventilation Tube Applicator for Otitis Media With Effusion Treatment

Otitis media with effusion is a prevalent condition affecting people of all age groups worldwide. When medication fails, a surgical procedure called myringotomy is done and a ventilation tube (grommet) is inserted. A novel all-in-one device that allows office-based myringotomy was conceptualized and realized, but there exists constraints with respect to contact sensing. This paper will discuss the challenges with contact sensing within the confines of the ear canal in the context of the applicator. A capacitive sensing approach is then proposed to circumvent these difficulties and experimental results are furnished to show the relative performance of capacitive sensing over force sensing for contact detection.