Abstract

Introduction: Hearing loss in patients with tubotympanic types of chronic suppurative otitis media is classically observed as conductive deafness. However, a concomitant presence of sensorineural hearing loss can be seen in some cases.The factors contributing to the development of this type of loss need to be evaluated.
Aim of the study: To study the incidence of sensorineural loss in patients with chronic suppurative otitis media tubotympanic disease and to assess the possible associated factors.
Materials and methods: 322 patients with chronic suppurative otitis media-tubotympanic disease were admitted to a tertiary care centre over a period of five years. The clinical evaluation sheet, discharge summary, and audiological evaluation sheet were reviewed to collect the data according to the proforma and analyzed statistically after being entered into SPSS software. Data was collected regarding clinical presentation, audiological evaluation, and otomicroscopy findings.
Results: Out of 319 cases with hearing loss, a significant number of patients (67 patients; 20.8%) had mixed hearing loss. There was a statistically significant correlation between the type of hearing loss and the size of the perforation (p value = 0.039). 42 out of 67 cases with mixed losses had large perforations.The pattern of hearing loss showed variation with the site of perforation, with a significant difference in incidence between purely anterior and purely posterior perforations (p value = 0.035).
Conclusion:The statistical analysis of the data collected showed a significant incidence of sensorineural loss in tubotympanic disease and it was mainly associated with the site as well as increasing size of the perforation.

Key words: tubotympanic disease, chronic suppurative otitis media, sensorineural hearing loss