Elizabeth S. Olson

My MS and PhD degrees are in Physics (Barnard College and MIT).  As a graduate student I started working on sensing systems, electroreception as a doctoral student and auditory mechanics as a post-doc and beyond. 

My lab studies inner and middle ear mechanics and electromechanics, with in vivo measurements of motion, pressure, and extracellular electrical responses.  I have designed and built specialized sensors and developed specialized techniques, in particular the micron-scale pressure sensors used to measure pressure waves in the cochlea. The introduction of Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) to imaging and motion measurements within the cochlea's sensory tissue has opened up a new frontier in explorations of cochlear mechanics.  My lab tailored a commercial OCT system (Thorlabs Telesto) for time-locked motion measurements, and we have used it fruitfully in intracochlear measurements. 

My interest in middle ear mechanics is long-standing, and the eardrum's ability to transmit sound to the inner ear with high fidelity, while its own motion appears so disordered, still amazes me.  The middle ear is an active system that is adjusted by two muscles that attach to the middle ear bones (ossicles) and our recent work has explored the effect of these muscles on sound transmission.   

The lab also has clinically motivated work ongoing.  For several years I have collaborated with colleagues at Columbia, Massachusetts Eye and Ear / Harvard, and MIT to develop the microphone for a totally implantable cochlear implant.  I also collaborate at Columbia on a project developing techniques for drug delivery to the cochlea.