Audiological Evaluation of the Contralateral Ear in Patients with Cholesteatoma

Abstract

Objectives: Evaluate the contralateral ear (CLE) audiometric findings in patients with middle ear cholesteatoma. (2) Correlate the audiometric thresholds to videotoscopic findings. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Videotoscopies and audiometries of 300 patients with cholesteatoma at a tertiary hospital were analyzed. The CLE videotoscopy, bone conduction, air conduction, and air-bone gap pure tone average (PTA) were analyzed. Results: The mean patient age was 32.35 ± 19.26 years, and 52.2% were female. The CLE was abnormal in 60.8% of cases: 5.6% had perforation, 39.9% had moderate or severe retraction, and 15.6% had cholesteatoma. The CLE bone conduction PTA was 16.75 ± 16.1 dB, the air conduction PTA was 47.1 ± 22.8 dB, and the air-bone gap PTA was 32.2 ± 18.7 dB. The CLE prevalence of severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss was 1.7%. Severe hearing impairment did not occur in patients with a normal CLE, whereas it did occur in 2.7% of patients with an abnormal CLE ( P = .02). Bone conduction PTA was similar between normal and abnormal CLE ( P = .82), but the air conduction and air-bone gap PTA were higher in abnormal CLE ( P < .001 and P < .001, respectively). Conclusions: In patients with cholesteatoma, the CLE had a high prevalence of abnormalities and hearing impairment. Severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss was only observed in abnormal CLE. The air bone gap and air conduction PTA were also higher in the abnormal CLE.