An unusual case of cotton wool use to improve hearing

To report an unusual observation whereby hearing was improved by insertion of cotton wool onto a retracted tympanic membrane, and to explore potential explanations for this.

We report the case of a 56-year-old woman with a severe mixed hearing loss who was noted to have a significant improvement in her hearing using a technique shown to her many years ago by a Russian physician. Upon application of a moist piece of cotton wool, gains of up to 40 dB were observed. This was associated with a significant subjective improvement in hearing. We discuss potential mechanisms for this effect, including amplification, a baffle effect and phase differences.

The mechanism of the hearing improvement observed in this case is unknown, but is likely to be related to sound amplification from the relatively large surface area of the cotton wool to the smaller oval window.