[Personal experiences with audiometric detection of perilymph fistulas]

Rupture of the round window membrane is thought to be important in the pathogenesis of sudden hearing loss. In 1982 Fraser and Flood proposed an audiometric test to improve the indication for tympanoscopy which, in their experience, verified the diagnosis of perilymph fistulae in a high percentage of cases. Between 1 January 1986 and 30 June 1988 the above test was carried out on 74 patients at the ENT Department of the University of Hamburg. In 41 cases a tympanoscopy was performed. In 13 cases with a positive test result not a single perilymphatic fistula could be found intra-operatively, while in 3 cases of rupture the test was negative. In our experience this test is not helpful for the pre-operative assessment of tympanotomy in sudden hearing loss.