Abstract: To explore the effect of palate repair on the function of middle ear, and provide evidence for early treatment of dysfunction of middle ear. Methods: A total of 112 cleft palate patients(224 ears) were investigated by pure tone audiometry, acoustic immiscible audiometry and auditory brainstem response. Sixtyfive cleft palate patients with secretory otitis media underwent palatoplasty and myringotomy with tube insertion. The organism of tympanic secretion was cultivated before operation. Results： Patients with cleft palate had dysfunction of middle ear in different degrees. The middle ear function of cleft palate patients was improved obviously by palate repair surgery(P＜0.05). The Ｇ+ and Ｇ- positivity rates of organism culture of tympanic secretion were 23.08% and 24.62% respectively, and most organisms were low poisonous and conditionally infective.　Conclusions： The functional impairment of middle ears often occurres in the cleft palate patients, and measures should be taken for prevention and treatment of diseases for cleft palate patients. Early cleft palate repair facilitates the recovery of otosalpinx function and decreases the hearing loss.

Key words: Dysfunction of middle ear, Cleft Palate, Eustachian tube, Organism culture