Automatic acquisition and processing of large sets of holographic measurements in medical research

Abstract

We are developing an advanced computer-controlled digital opto-electronic holographic system (DOEHS) with the ability to operate in several modalities, including optoelectronic holographic microscopy, lensless digital holography, speckle pattern interferometry, and fringe projection. The DOEHS is being designed for medical applications requiring full-field-of-view information of shape and deformations to aid in the diagnosis and investigation of specific disorders. Particular features of the DOEHS include the capabilities to rapidly acquire and quantitatively process a relatively large amount of interferometric data. Therefore, automatic procedures for acquisition of images or video, computation and application of quality metrics, and phase unwrapping are applied with minimal user interaction. The results are catalogued with relevant metadata in a database allowing for massive analysis and comparison between subjects or patients. Currently, the DOEHS is being developed to measure acoustically induced deformations of the eardrum of several species, including humans. Measurements are used in diagnosing middle-ear conductive disorders and investigating the causes of failure of middle-ear surgical procedures. We present representative measurement procedures and results.