[Prevention of stable hypoacusis in patients with acute otitis media]

We studied 788 patients with acute otitis media caused by cooling, common cold and made an experiment with cooling guinea pigs and white rats that developed noninvasive acute otitis media (AOM). We registered morphological and histochemical changes in the hearing organ at different stages of AOM. We discovered that neurosensory hypoacusis in AOM results from disturbed microcirculation in the ear leading to hypoxia and affection of metabolic processes in the receptors of the hearing system. We propose a scheme of combined therapy at different stages of AOM. We believe that rehabilitation of the hearing system should be started as early as the initial symptoms of acute inflammation of the middle ear and continued to a complete recovery of the acoustic function.