Wideband energy reflectance patterns in preoperative and post-operative otosclerotic ears

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of energy of reflectance (ER) in preoperative and post-operative conditions in otosclerotic ears. It was also within the scope of this paper to investigate whether the changes in ER pattern post-operatively correlate to the improvement in hearing as measured by pure-tone audiometry. ER was measured in 15 surgically confirmed otosclerotic ears (mean age: 44 years) before and after the stapes surgery. The most prominent change in ER pattern following the surgery in majority of the subjects was a sharp and deep drop in ER value between 700-1000 Hz. There was also a secondary wider and smaller increase in ER value following the surgery between 2000-4000 Hz. Moreover, in most cases the drop in ER values following the surgery at low frequencies (