Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T00:03:53.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Eustachian tube function in sudden hearing loss and in healthy subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Wolfgang Maier*
Affiliation:
HNO Kliniks, Freiburg and Ludwigshafen.
Rolf Hauser
Affiliation:
HNO Kliniks, Freiburg and Ludwigshafen.
Gerd Münker
Affiliation:
HNO Kliniks, Freiburg and Ludwigshafen.
*
Dr Wolfgang Maier, M.D., Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, (HNO-Klinik), Universitätskliniken, Killianstr. 5, 7800 Freiburg i. Br., Germany.

Abstract

The relationship between sudden hearing loss and an ipsilateral patulous tube was tested in ourEustachian tube laboratory. Fifty patients suffering from sudden hearing loss were examined by the pressure chamber impedance method, giving objective data on Eustachian tube function. Results were compared to those obtained from 56 healthy volunteers in a preceding investigation. Ourinvestigation did not show any associations between patulous tube syndrome and sudden hearing loss, as had been claimed by several authors previously. There was even indication of a decreased patency of Eustachian tube in our patients in active and passive tubal tests. We could demonstrate a high reproducibility of values obtained by our method, indicating that results are representative in healthy persons as well as in patients.

In a case report the importance of objective diagnostic methods in differential diagnostics of Eustachian tube pathology is emphasized.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Presented in part at the annual meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Aachen, 1991.

References

Cantekin, E., Bluestone, C. D., Parkin, L. P. (1976) Eustachian tube ventilatory function in children. Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, 85 suppl. 25: 171177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elner, A., Ingelstedt, S., Ivarsson, A. (1971) The normal function of the Eustachian tube. Ada Otolaryngologica, 72: 320328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Groth, P., Ivarsson, A., Tjernstrom, Ö. (1982) Reliability in tests of the Eustachian tube function. Acta Otolaryngologica, 93: 261267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heermann, J. (1988) Einseitig weite Tuba auditiva mit Tinnitus, Innenohrschaden, Schwindel und Hörsturz—Collageninjektion. HNO, 36: 1315.Google Scholar
Ingelstedt, S., Ivarsson, A., Tjernstrom, Ö. (1974) Vertigo due to relative overpressure in the middle ear. Ada Otolaryngologica, 78: 114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Magnusson, B., Falk, B. (1988) Eustachian tube malfunction in middle ear disease. In Otologic medicine and surgery. Vol. 2, First edition. (Alberti, P. W., Ruben, R. J., eds.), Churchill Livingstone: New York. p. 11531171.Google Scholar
Münker, G. (1972) Funktionsanalyse der Tuba Eustachii—Methoden und Klinik. Thesis, Universität Freiburg.Google Scholar
Münker, G. (1980) The patulous Eustachian tube. In Physiology and pathophysiology of Eustachian tube and middle ear. International Symposium Freiburg (Breisgau) 1977. First edition. (Münker, G., Arnold, W., eds.) Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart-New York, p. 113117.Google Scholar
O'Connor, A. F, Shea, J. J. (1981) Autophony and the patulous Eustachian tube. Laryngoscope, 91: 14271435.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapport, P. N., Lim, D. J., Weiss, H. S. (1975) Surface-active agent in Eustachian tube function. Archives of Otolaryngology, 101: 305311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, P. J., Hazell, J. P. W. (1989) Patulous Eustachian tube syndrome: The relationship with sensorineural hearing loss. Treatment by Eustachian tube diathermy. Journal of Laryngologyand Otology, 103: 739742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tolley, N. S., Phelps, P. (1990) Patulous Eustachian tube: a radiological perspective. Journal of Laryngology and Otology, 104: 291293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed