Tympanometry from 200 to 2 000 Hz Probe Tone

Previous investigations have shown that the probe tone frequency is the main factor in determining the shape of the tympanogram. These had, however, been limited up to 800 HzIn the present paper, a multifrequency investigation (from 200 to 2 000 Hz) has been performed on 72 ears with different pathophysiological conditions of the middle ear. From the analysis of the result some new critical aspects of tympanometry emergeThe multifrequency tympanometric investigation proves to be, according to our experience, a far more sensitive method for checking small changes in the transmission characteristics of the tympano-ossicular system than the monofrequency traditional analysis. In this connection, the technique seems to furnish a simple and reliable method for discriminating between stiffness versus mass-controlled systems