Re-visiting the tympanic membrane vicinity as core body temperature measurement site

Abstract

Core body temperature (CBT) is an important and commonly used indicator of human health and endurance performance. A rise in baseline CBT can be attributed to an onset of flu, infection or even thermoregulatory failure when it becomes excessive. Sites which have been used for measurement of CBT include the pulmonary artery, the esophagus, the rectum and the tympanic membrane. Among them, the tympanic membrane is an attractive measurement site for CBT due to its unobtrusive nature and ease of measurement facilitated, especially when continuous CBT measurements are needed for monitoring such as during military, occupational and sporting settings. However, to-date, there are still polarizing views on the suitability of tympanic membrane as a CBT site. This paper will revisit a number of key unresolved issues in the literature and also presents, for the first time, a benchmark of the middle ear temperature against temperature measurements from other sites. Results from experiments carried out on human and primate subjects will be presented to draw a fresh set of insights against the backdrop of hypotheses and controversies.

Establishing a reference range for normal canine tympanic membrane temperature measured with a veterinary aural thermometer

“…TMT measurement has been shown to be better tolerated by canine patients in a veterinary setting when compared to rectal thermometry (Gomart et al, 2014, Lamb andMcBrearty, 2013), suggesting that for patients where rectal thermometry is impossible due to pathology or patient temperament, TMT can provide a suitable alternative for measuring body temperature (Gomart et al, 2014;Gonzalez et al, 2002;Greer et al, 2007;Hall and Carter, 2017;Lamb and McBrearty, 2013;Rexroat et al,1999;Southard et al,2006;Zanghi, 2016;). Four of these studies report that TMT underestimates rectal temperature (Gomart et al, 2014;Hall and Carter, 2017;Southward et al, 2006;Zanghi, 2016) mirroring the findings of Yeoh et al (2017) in primates. This has important implications when using TMT to measure canine body temperature as improper interpretation of the readings could result in misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.…”

“…This degree of inaccuracy is one of the reasons aural thermometers cannot replace rectal thermometers as the routine method of measuring body temperature in clinical patients. The tympanic membrane does not have a consistent temperature in primates (Yeoh et al, 2017), and variations between the anatomy of different dog breeds could result in a lack of consistency of probe placement. These factors could explain the reported variability of TMT when compared to rectal temperature (Lamb and McBrearty, 2013).…”

Measurement of Core Body Temperature Using Graphene-Inked Infrared Thermopile Sensor

“…Due to relevance of CBT, several methods and devices have been developed to measure it noninvasively. Ear canal is a suitable place in the body to record CBT as a non-invasive method, because the tympanic membrane in the ear canal directly reflects the CBT [ 4 , 5 ]. Hence, earphone-type infrared thermometers are being used to record CBT continuously from the ear [ 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”

Development of Body Tissue Temperature Control Transducer

“…For precise non-invasive body temperature measurement most commonly are used tympanic ear and rectal thermometers [2,3,4]. Same studies have shown that normal body temperature ranges can be between 36.2 and 37.5 °C [5].…”