Abstract
Bone conduction thresholds were measured in 48 patients with unilateral chronic otitis media to examine the relationship between chronic otitis media and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). They consisted of 23 ears with chronic otitis media, 23 ears with cholesteatoma without labyrinthine fistula and 2 ears with cholesteatoma with labyrinthine fistula. Audiograms were analyzed for evidence of SNHL, defined as the difference in preoperative bone conduction thresholds between the diseased and control (normal contralateral) ears. There were significant differences between the diseased and control ears in both diseases across the frequency range and they varied from 3.7dB to 9.8dB. Bone conduction differences at 2000Hz were significantly worse in the ears with ossicular disruption while they were not significant in those without ossicular disruption, suggesting the influence of Carhart effect on this frequency. Two ears with labyrinthine fistula showed larger bone conduction differences than those without labyrinthine fistula. These results indicate that chronic otitis media is associated with SNHL, but the degree of SNHL is small in the majority of patients.
