Chronic Otitis Media as a Cause of Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Charts from 404 patients with a diagnosis of chronic otitis media were reviewed to evaluate pretreatment and posttreatment bone-conduction thresholds. The patients were categorized into four groups depending upon the severity of their disease. Bone-conduction thresholds were found to decrease with the severity and the duration of the disease. Posttreatment bone-conduction thresholds were relatively unchanged from the pretreatment tests. It is concluded that sensorineural hearing loss can be a natural sequela of chronic otitis media.