Smoothing for the Optimal Surface of a 3D Image Model of the Human Ossicles

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study assessed the optimal process for the surface smoothing of 3D image models of in vivo human ossicles. A 3D image model of the ossicles was reconstructed from high resolution computed tomography imaging data. Three smoothing methods including constrained smoothing, unconstrained smoothing and smoothsurface will be discussed. The volume of the 3D image model produced by unconstrained smoothing differed substantially from the original model volume prior to smoothing. Constrained smoothing had an uneven effect on the surface of the 3D image models. Using the smoothsurface module, we were able to obtain an optimal surface of the 3D image model of the human ossicles including the malleus, incus and stapes, using 20 iterations and a λ value of 0.6.