Tympanometric interaural asymmetry in African-American school-aged children
Andrew Stuart1, Baylee M Engelhardt1, Emma K Tomaszewski1
1Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the tympanometric asymmetry in children. The determination of ear differences would be useful clinically in determining what qualifies as a significant asymmetry in tympanometric indices and hence middle ear dysfunction.
Methods:
Fifty-five otologically normal school-aged African American children participated. Middle ear indices of peak compensated static acoustic admittance, equivalent ear canal volume, tympanometric peak pressure, and tympanometric width were examined.
Results:
No significant differences between right and left tympanometric indices were found (p > .05). Correlations between right and left tympanometric indices were positive and statistically significant (p < .05). Critical differences, for deciding if two tympanometry indices are different between ears, were computed from the standard deviations of the right-left ear difference for confidence levels of 85%-99%.
Conclusions:
Critical differences for tympanometric indices can be used by clinicians to assess if ear asymmetries are statistically significant.
