Homograft tympanic membranes appear to meet the requirements of ideal tissue transplants. The surgical technique herein differs from that previously reported in that the homograft tissue is not used alone but is overlayed with canal skin or fascia. This maneuver utilizes the homograft tympanic membrane as a supporting scaffold to maintain anatomic shape and position of the drum head while the skin or fascia serves to assure rapid epithelization. In ears where all ossicular tissue has been destroyed the homograft tympanic membrane with attached malleus provides the main building block for reconstruction of the hearing mechanism. The initial hearing results are good and all indications are that they will be maintained with the passage of time.
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Roger E. Wehrs (1971) studied this question.