Abstract
Eustachian tubal function was determined in two age groups: children from 4 to 14 years old and adults from 23 to 74 years old. The test group of children consisted of 224 normal ears while the test group of adults consisted of 106 normal ears. Tympanometric tests were performed on 1, 484 children from 4 to 11 years old who attended either preschool or elementary school. A retrospective analysis was done of patients diagnosed with otitis media with effusion (OME) who first visited our outpatient clinic from 1988 to 1992. 1) The beginning age of change in the Eustachian tubal function from the pressure opening type to the swallowing dependent adult type, regarding the decrease in the incidence of type C and type B as well as a reduction in the number of OME cases, was found to be 8 years old for all test groups. 2) A deterioration of the Eustachian tubal function began from the age of fifty. As a result, adult type OME occurred more often in those patients over fifty.
