Tympanometric examination of preschool children in eleven public institutions of Yokosuka City

Abstract

Tympanogrames were obtained from 650 (3 to 6-year-old) preschool children with a new tympanometer and a data processing system. Tympanometry is composed of middle ear pressure, physical volume, compliance and gradient. The 3.5 inch floppy disk (2DD TYPE) can save data of 1000 children. The floppy disk is available for the personal computer which plays the data processing system. The normal range of the middle ear pressure, physical volume, compliance and gradient can be freely changed on TV monitor. In our investigation the normal range of the middle ear pressure was determined at +50--200daPa; the physical volume at 0.3-15 ml; the peak compliance at 0.2-1.6 ml; the gradiant at 30%~70%. Therefore this instrument system can almost automatically analyze tympanograms and show “normal” or “abnormal” If any data indicates a boundary between normal and abnormal range, the otolaryngologist studies these conditions on the TV monitor.139 children had the abnormal tympanograms as a result. Forty four (31.0%) of 142 tree-year-old children had the abnormal tympanograms; that shows the highest rate among the children groups investigated. The rate of the abnormal tympanograms went down with the age of the children examined going up.