Effects of middle-ear disease and cleft palate on high-frequency hearing in children.
High-frequency hearing loss in children with cleft palate has been documented recently. The present study was designed to investigate whether hearing loss can result solely as a consequence of middle-ear disease in early life or as a result of cleft palate and its sequelae which include middle-ear disease. Our results demonstrate that auditory functions for test frequencies 250-6 000 Hz were not significantly different among the two investigational groups of children with high incidence of middle-ear disease, and a control group of children with virtually no middle-ear disease. However, for high-frequency thresholds (8 000-20 000 Hz), both groups of children with high incidence of middle-ear disease were statistically different from the control group. Moreover, the children with cleft palate had high-frequency hearing that was statistically similar to that of children with normal orofacial structures and high incidence of middle-ear disease. Middle-ear disease alone, then, is a sufficient condition for loss of high-frequency sensitivity.
D000293:Adolescent; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000150:complications*; D003051:Cochlea / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology*; D006316:Hearing Loss, High-Frequency / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology