Our knowledge of the anatomy of the temporal bone can be dated back to Hippocrates who understood the tympanic membrane to be part of the acoustic apparatus, and Aristotle who recognized the cochlea as part of the hearing organ. Later in 1860 Toynbee studied 2000 temporal bones and published his findings in the classic work Disease of the Ear. So techniques especially modern techniques of dissection have greatly improved our abilities to study the temporal bone, and among them, Computerized Tomography (CT Scanning) has added to this.

The basic threads of three dimensional (3D) spatial shape research of otology came from Newton. In 1879 he suggested reconstructing the temporal bone using contiguous sheets, but this was not available until 1968, when an English engineer Hounsfield invented the first CT machine. With this technique Harada (1988) made some particular observations of the temporal bone, including the external auditory canal, tympanic membrane, carotid artery, vestibule, labyrinth and internal auditory canal. In 1989, Lutz reconstructed the facial nerve and carotid artery and made a 3-D measurement of anatomical structures. He also discussed the anatomical basis of various otologic diseases. In China, the work of Professor Pu Dai (1991) on temporal bone reconstruction based on extensive anatomic data hasn’t only expanded the study but also enriched the knowledge of stereo reconstruction in China.

Computer aided temporal bone reconstruction has become a landmark in Medical studies, while it still has some defects, the images which are created by this technique are only an abstraction of the real anatomic structures, far different to real surgical images. Considering this, Professor Dai has further developed a way to capture and save stereo images. He has combined binocular vision theory, the stereoscope and the operating microscope in an ingenious way. This has provided a much more realistic representation of micro ear surgery.