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The paper describes the design of an optical coherence tomograph adapted for studying the state of the tympanic cavity of the human middle ear. We present the images obtained by the method of optical coherence tomography, which are characteristic of the norm and of the case of pathology – otitis media with effusion.

The problem of recognising single sparsely located scatterers against the noise background in the image obtained by the method of optical coherence tomography (OCT) is considered. An identification method based on the use of specific scanning features upon OCT image registration and on the statistical analysis of image fragments is proposed. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated experimentally in the diagnosis of otitis media with effusion. The approach can be used in the development of automated algorithms for determining the presence of highly transparent effusion in the middle ear cavity of a human with acute otitis media with effusion, including postoperative one.