2016 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 119-123
A 49-year-old woman visited our hospital because of conductive hearing loss in her left ear. It was found by chance during an examination for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, but in fact, she had experienced hearing loss for the last 8 years. The CT scan showed no remarkable findings in her temporal bone and the appearance of the left tympanic membrane was normal. The pure tone audiogram showed a 2-kHz bone conduction threshold dip （Carhart’s notch）, and the average level of air conduction at three frequencies （0.5 kHz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz） was 50.0 dB. The impedance audiometry showed a lower level of peak compliance （type As） and there was no response in the stapedial reflex. Preoperatively, we suspected otosclerosis and planned stapedotomy, but the main cause of hearing loss was found to be ankylosis of incus and stapes and incus fixation to the posterior wall. Just removing the incus fixation improved her hearing level from 50.0 dB to 21.6 dB.
