Parametric Physically Grounded Rendering of Otoscopic Morphology for Synthetic Medical Image Generation

The tympanic membrane (TM) is a thin, semi-transparent structure whose morphology and optical appearance provide important diagnostic cues. In the early stages of middle-ear pathology, subtle shape and compliance alterations may precede overt clinical signs, making them valuable early indicators of disease. Such structural changes are difficult to assess reliably using conventional (micro-)otoscopy, which lacks quantitative depth information and is operator-dependent. Data-driven monocular image analysis could enable quantitative assessment of TM geometry and compliance, but the limited availability of annotated three-dimensional datasets constrains the development of these methods. At the same time, realistic simulations of TM appearance remain challenging due to its complex reflectance and transmission behavior. The present study focuses on physiologically healthy tympanic membranes, which provide the baseline anatomical and optical model required before subtle pathological changes can be investigated. This work introduces a parametric physically grounded rendering model of the structures visible during otoscopy: the tympanic membrane, ear canal, and malleus–incus complex. Implemented in the open-source software Blender™ using procedural geometry nodes and physically motivated shaders, the framework generates anatomically plausible three-dimensional geometries via statistical parameter sampling and controlled mesh deformation. Optical appearance is simulated using a computationally efficient layered shading model based on literature-derived tissue reflectance, transmission, and scattering properties. A camera–projector setup models both conventional white-light otoscopy and structured-light imaging, enabling the generation of paired intensity images and corresponding depth maps. The proposed framework establishes a physically grounded representation of the human ear and enables a controllable, extensible modeling pipeline for virtual training, biomechanical finite element analysis, and synthetic data generation for supervised learning.