[Otosclerosis: surgical improvement of hearing and primary labyrinthine efficiency (author's transl)]

The result of stapedectomy in which the stapes were replaced by a Schuknecht prosthesis is examined on the basis of 156 audiograms. Of particular interest is the connection between the degree of restored hearing through surgery and the preoperative bone-conduction hearing loss. The degree of restored hearing can be proved to be independent of the preoperative performance of the inner ear, which means that in patients with a higher degree of inner-ear involvement the raising of the air-conduction hearing threshold is achieved in the same way as in patients without inner-ear involvement.