Reproducibility of sonotubometry as Eustachian tube ventilatory function test in healthy children.
OBJECTIVE
To devise a simple and reliable diagnostic procedure to test Eustachian tube function routinely in an ENT outpatient setting. One method to measure ET ventilatory function is sonotubometry. The reproducibility of a recently updated sonotubometry set-up was tested in healthy children.


METHODS
The test population comprised 61 school children aged from 6 to 8 years. Only otologically healthy children were included. Health state was established by means of a 12-item questionnaire. To test reproducibility, sonotubometric testing took place in two sessions of 10 acts of swallowing each. Spearman's coefficient was used to test the correlation between the two sets of measurements. All testing took place at a primary school in a nearby village.


RESULTS
Opening of the ET was recorded in at least one of the two measurement sessions in 82% of the children. The first and second sessions were highly correlated, with a Spearman's coefficient of 0.89.


CONCLUSIONS
In otologically healthy children, opening of the ET was recorded frequently using the updated sonotubometry set-up. Measurement results had high reproducibility. Therefore, the test forms a useful method to assess ET ventilatory function in otologically healthy children. The performance of this updated version needs to be established in children with otological diseases.
van der Avoort
Stijn J C
SJ
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Philips van Leydenlaan 15, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. s.vanderavoort@kno.umcn.nl
van Heerbeek
Niels
N
Snik
Ad F M
AF
Zielhuis
Gerhard A
GA
Cremers
Cor W R J
CW
D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002648:Child; D003679:Deglutition; D005064:Eustachian Tube / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results