Vestibular findings in chronic suppuration of the middle ear cleft

Otitis media is one of the most common afflictions of man. Chronic suppurative otitis media might be complicatedby inner ear problems manifested by sensorineural hearing lossand/or vertigo.Much research had been done to study the pathogenesisof sensorineural hearing loss but little research had been doneto assess the vestibular deficit in cases of chronic suppurativeotitis media.In the present study, we have studied the prevalenceof vestibular dysfunction among 100 patients suffering fromchronic suppurative otitis media with the purpose of definingif any correlation can be found between the type of otitismedia, the duration of the disease, the degree of hearing lossand the site and size of tympanic membrane perforation, on onehand, and the vestibular function studied by electronystagmo-graphy on the other hand.The subjects of the present study were 58 males and42 females. Their ages ranged from 12 to 70 years. All thepatients selected for the present study were satisfying thefollowing requirements:1- Patients should be suffering from unilateral chronic suppur-ative otitis media because patients with bilateral ear diseasepose special problems for control.