Clinical Applications of Multifrequency Tympanometry

Seo, Young Il; Yoon, Tae Hyun; Lee, Jae Jin; Chung, Jong Woo; Lee, Kwang Sun

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Multifrequency tumpanograms for normal ears are expected to exhibit an orderly progression that were described by Vanhuyse. Middle ear pathologies alter tympanometric shapes at high frequencies and shift the resonance frequency of the middle ear transmission system.
OBJECTIVE
The aims of this study were to obtain the normative data of the multifrequency tympanometry for adults and children, to evaluate the efficiency in diagnosing stapes fixation and to access the resonance properities of middle ears undergoing stapedotomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Multifrequency tympanometry was performed in 36 ears of normal adults, 24 ears of normal children and 8 ears with stapes fixation using computer-controlled acoustic immittance system(Virtual model 310).
RESULTS
1) In normal ears, as probe frequency increases, tympanometric patterns progressed through an orderly progression of shape, consistent with the Vanhuyse model. 2) Resonance frequeny was 1195+/-260 Hz for normal adults, and 1167+/-217 Hz for normal children. There was no significant different between two groups. 3) Resonance frequency was higher in cases of stapes fixation(1431+/-323 Hz) than the normal value and was lower in cases of post-stapedotomy(721+/-130 Hz) than the normal value.
CONCLUSION
Measurement of multifrequency tympanometry could give additional information for the evaluation of ossicular fixation.