Screening tympanometry: criteria for medical referral.
Tympanograms were obtained from normal preschool and adult subjects with a prototype hand-held tympanometer to obtain normative values for four tympanometric variables: static admittance, equivalent ear canal volume, tympanometric peak pressure, and gradient. Effects of age group, sex, and pump speed (200 or 400 daPa/s) were determined. The results were incorporated into a four-part screening protocol (history, visual inspection, audiometry, and tympanometry) designed to reduce the excessive error rates associated with screening strategies that rely exclusively on tympanometry.
D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004427:Ear Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012737:Sex Factors