A study comparing otoscopy with tympanometry was carried out in 1702 ears in seven- and ten-year-old children. Pneumatic otoscopy in 917 ears showed an 88 per cent agreement with tympanometry. The agreement was better in ears considered normal by the otoscopist than in ears that were considered abnormal. Furthermore, the accuracy of otoscopy was better in the older children than in the younger ones.

A procedure employing simple otoscopy in 785 ears gave an 83 per cent agreement, but in about 15 per cent of these ears the examiner felt unable to base his evaluation on certainty.

It was found that a middle-ear pressure of –100 mm. H2O correlated with recognizable pathology when pneumatic otoscopy was performed.

Bony deficiency of the tegmen tympani has been found in cases of fatal intracranial complifications following air insufflation of the middle ear.

This study set out to discover the incidence and appearance of such deficiencies. Sevently bones were examined and twenty per cent of them had tegmental deficiencies. There was no evidence of erosive disease in any of the bones.

Reverse Politzerization following myringotomy has come to be regarded as a potentially dangerous procdure. It is also possible for infection to spread from the middle ear to the meninges, or for C.S.F. to leak into the middle ear from above.

Late hearing results in 627 ears (574 patients) operated on radically for chronic otitis media are presented. Clinically, the ears were followed-up annually for 5–14 years. The results are correlated with the severity of histopathological changes in the tympanic cavity and in the mastoid air-cell system and also with the management of the tympanic mucosa and ossicular chain at operation.

The mean post-operative air-bone gap was significatly better in ears with mild histopathological changes than in ears with sever histopathological changes in the middle ear (17.0 db./33.1 db.; p<0.001) or mastoid (29.0 db./34.2 db.; p<0.01) at operation. The difference in hearing results in favour of the former group was more significant in ears in which the tympanic mucosa had been saved at operation (p<0.01/p<0.001) than in ears in which the mucosa had been removed (p<0.05).

Stapedial reflex data were obtained from 11 myasthenic, 18 hyperthyroid and six hypothyroid patients. Data were studied with respect to reflex threshold, amplitude and decay. Elevated threshold, decreased amplitude, and high and low frequency reflex decay were observed in myasthenic and hyperthyroid patients. Hypothyroidism merely increases stapedial reflex amplitude but causes no significant threshold or decay changes.

This study investigated the effects of fibrin glue (‘Tissucol’, Immuno Pty. Ltd.) in the middle and inner ear. Small amounts of the adhesive were used in 36 operations performed on 18 rabbits. The light microscopic examination of these ears four, eight and 12 weeks after surgery showed that the adhesive was well tolerated and that it did not have any toxic effecton on the middle ear or membranous labyrinth. The fibrin tissue adhesive can therefore safely be used to facilitate reconstructive middle-ear surgery and, with the aid of fasic, also for the closure of labyrinthine fistulae; or to achieve a definite seal of the oval window niche after stapes surgery.