Wideband tympanometry in otitis Media

Abstract Background Otitis media with effusion (OME) is one of the most frequent infectious diseases in children and is the most common cause of acquired hearing loss in childhood. Diagnosis of OME is mainly dependent on the single-frequency tympanometry. Wideband tympanometry (WBT) is an emerging technology that has been utilized to overcome the limitations of conventional tympanometric procedures. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of wideband acoustic absorbance in children suffering from otitis media. Methods This study included a control group of 50 children with 100 ears with bilateral normal peripheral hearing and bilateral normal middle ear function and a study group which included 100 children with 176 ears complaining of otitis media. Measures included subjects history, basic audiological evaluation and wideband tympanometry. Resonant frequency, tympanometric peak pressure and middle ear absorbance were measured from wideband tympanometry and compared in both groups. Results There was a statistically significant reduction of resonsnce frequency in the study group in comparison to the control group. Also, there was a statistically significant reduction of tympanometric peak pressure in the study group in comparison to the control group. As regards the absorbance, there was a statistically significant reduction of absorbance in the study group in comparison to the control group at all tested frequencies (250Hz- 8000Hz). The best area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values for diagnosing OM were obtained at all tested frequencies. Data of this work showed that higher values were mainly at 250Hz, 500Hz and 1kHz (0.84, 0.88 and 0.93 respectively). Conclusion Findings of this study suggested that wide band tympanometry can be used efficiently in various degrees of OM.