Buckingham Virtual Tympanum

Within the field of Otolaryngology, there are a number of apps related to head and neck anatomy but there is little focus on the structures of the ear. But an app for learning about the tympanic membrane is exactly what is needed: Usually the landmarks of the tympanic membrane are not well understood until the student or resident has looked at hundreds of actual tympanic membranes. Attempting to learn independently with a textbook, or listening to an otologist’s description of what they view through an otoscope in clinic, does not lead to an effective understanding or precise knowledge of the tympanic membrane and its associated structures. The Buckingham Virtual Tympanum provides good visualization of the tympanic membrane, instructs, and challenges the user in a convenient format.

Dr. Richard Buckingham, a retired UIC Otolaryngologist, has provided high quality microscopic images of the tympanic membrane from which an interactive learning module was developed. The Buckingham Virtual Tympanum app provides medical students, residents, and physicians a tool to master various anatomic and pathological details of commonly examined structure, the tympanic membrane.
Features:
High quality tympanic membrane images
Mastering the anatomy and pathology by identifying labeled structures
Identification involves answering a question per label, thus active versus passive learning.
Users type in their answers, and can assess their knowledge by comparing to an expert
There are 4 levels
Level 1: Basic anatomy
Level 2: Advanced anatomy and normal variation
Level 3: Pathologic
Level 4: designed for knowledge base of ENT Resident level