Long-term effects of chronic otitis media on binaural hearing in children.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the long-term effect of otitis media with effusion (OME) on binaural hearing in children.


METHODS
Longitudinal testing over a 4-year period following insertion of tympanic membrane grommets, employing clinical and normal control groups.


METHODS
Twenty-two children with a history of OME were tested before insertion of grommets and at 3 months and 1 year after surgery; 14, 11, and 8 of the children were followed up for 2, 3, and 4 years after surgery, respectively. An age-matched control group of 40 children was tested.


METHODS
The masking-level difference (MLD) paradigm was used to measure the ability of the binaural auditory system to aid the detection of a pure-tone signal presented in a random masking noise.


RESULTS
Although the results indicated a significant improvement in the MLD with increasing time after middle ear surgery, the MLD remained significantly reduced even 2 years after hearing threshold correction. The MLDs of the OME group did not differ significantly from those of the control group when tested 3 years after middle ear surgery, even though a small proportion of subjects with a history of OME continued to have MLDs smaller than normal limits.


CONCLUSIONS
In general, the results suggest a slow recovery of binaural function in children with OME after restoration of normal hearing thresholds.
Hall
J W
JW
Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Medical School, USA.
Grose
J H
JH
Pillsbury
H C
HC
D000293:Adolescent; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006309:Hearing; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008876:Middle Ear Ventilation; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome