Abstract

Neha Ahmed*, Udit Saxena, Imran Ansari, Suhani Sharma

ABSTRACT

Introduction - Immittance audiometry is the traditional measure to evaluate the status of middle ear. In recent years a new measure of middle ear called Wideband absorbance is gaining interest amongst the audiologist and ENTs. Wideband Absorbance (MEA) is a wideband measurement of the middle ear function that provide information about how much sound energy is absorbed by the middle ear over a wide range of frequency. Aim - This study is to compare Traditional Immittance Measure that is Static Compliance with Modern Middle Ear measure that is Wideband Absorbance. Method - In this study the comparison was done between static compliance and wideband absorbance and also the comparison of static compliance and wideband absorbance in children and adults. A total number of 30 participants were included in this study. Fifteen participants were normal hearing adults with the age range between 10 to 30 years. Other fifteen were normal hearing children who were of age between 7 and 12 years. Results - Static compliance and wideband absorbance were measured in the entire participants at 226, 678, 800 and 1000 Hz. The same values were used for statistical analysis. This study showed a positive correlation between static compliance and wideband absorbance in both normal hearing children and normal hearing adults at all the frequencies (226, 678, 800 and 1000 Hz) expect at 226 Hz in normal hearing children at which the correlation was absent. Conclusion - Wideband Absorbance is a valuable clinical tool for assessing the conductive pathway. Wideband Absorbance had higher test performance against composite test batteries compared to single test reference standards in identifying disorders of the conductive system. Wideband Absorbance could be used as a single clinical tool with test performance which is as good as the test battery reference standards.