Abstract
The effects of aging on the preoperative hearing loss were assessed in 1182 patients with chronic otitis media (COM) or cholesteatoma (CHL). Analysis was performed to clarify the correlation between preoperative hearing loss and age by calculating the regression line and the second order polynomial regression analysis. Preoperative hearing loss was appreciably poor in the younger patients and increased with age, compared with physiological hearing loss in the old patients (presbyacusis).
The regression lines for bone conduction in the patients and for normal data separated from each other after the age of 30 and hearing loss gradually accelerated with age in low-middle frequency. This was more dominant in the patients who had undergone type IV or plannd staged tympanoplasty (without ossiculoplasty) than those with type I, and in the patients with COM than with CHL. Labyrinthine function appeared to be aggravated with age in COM and CHL. Thus, the patients with COM and CHL recommended to undergo tympanoplasty at an early stage.
