Post-Traumatic Conductive Hearing Loss

Jang, Chul Ho; Kang, Keum Wee

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Injuries to the ear and temporal bone are ubiquitous, and proper early management is crucial. Violent closed-head injuries, particularly if the temporal bone is fractured, also commonly cause ossicular chain disruption. Significant ossicular chain damage usually produces a conductive hearing loss. Hearing loss due to ossicular disruption can be improved by surgery.
OBJECTIVES
The cause, incidence, position of ossicular disruption, method of reconstruction and postopeartive results were studied in 23 cases with post-traumatic conductive hearing loss.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Over the past 5 years, a total of 23 patients undergoing exploratory tympanotomy with ossiculoplasty were investigated retrospectively.
RESULTS
The male to female ratio was 3.6:1. The most common cause was longitudinal temporal bone fracture(87%) and the most common finding of ossicular injury was incudostapedial separation with fibrous band formation(65%). The type III tympanoplasty using autologous incus was the most common surgical reconstruction for hearing gain(78%). In 78% of the cases, hearing was restored within 10dB of postoperative air-bone gap in the speech range.
CONCLUSION
Cases of post-traumatic conductive hearing loss following trauma, in which it is difficult to confirm the presence of pathological lesions by conventional hearing and imaging tests, are occasionally encountered, necessitating exploratory surgery. As it is possible to improve hearing loss significantly in most of these cases by performing a reconstruction of the ossicular chain, exploratory surgery shoud be extensively recommended for post-traumatic conductive hearing loss.