Determinants of sensorineural hearing loss in chronic middle-ear disease

A statistical study was carried out on SNHL in CSOM. The study group consisted of 1,828 patients suffering from CSOM who underwent surgery at our centre from 1982 to 2001, out of these 510 cases with unilateral CSOM were selected for this study by a strict selection criteria so as to eliminate covariables such as exposure to acoustic trauma, head injury, previous ear surgery and hereditary causes. The healthy ear served as control. We determined the average SNHL in relation to the age of onset, duration of disease, examining it in relation to other eventual aural complications such as cholesteatoma, ossicular chain erosion und otorrhea.On the basis of data obtained we observed consistent co-relation between severity of SNHL and duration of the disease, presence of cholesteatoma, ossicular erosion, attic and subtotal perforations. These findings suggest that more severe middle ear disease may result in SNHL and thus early intervention in cases of chronic suppurative Otitis media is desired.