Abstract:

Objective    To study the relationship between the type of preoperative hearing loss and the site of tympanosclerosis, and analyze  the effect of our surgical protocol for patients. Methods    The preoperative features, sclerosis focus detected  during surgery and hearing levels after surgery on tympanosclerosis were retrospectively summed up for 40 patients in our hospital from October 2005 to December 2009． Results    While attic and the incudostapedial joint involvement are most frequently seen in conductivetype hearing loss, mixed type hearing loss isolated promontorium and involvement of the incudostapedial joint and around stapes are not seen.Postop outcome was found to be 40% in the patients with an air-bone gap between 0-20 dB.The best hearing result belonged to type 1 patients. Cases in which the stapes footplate was fixated had the worst result in terms of hearing. Conclusion    There is a direct relationship between the type of preoperative hearing loss and the site of tympanosclerosis. Surgery is the main method for tympanosclerosis．The operation should be adapted to different areas and degrees of the sclerosis focus.

Key words: Tympanosclerosis; Tympanoplasty; Result