DOI: 10.1097/01.mao.0000217353.88710.dd
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Issn Print: 1531-7129
Publication Date: 2006/06/01
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Excerpt
Over the years running from the 1960s until the 1980s, the technique of sonotubometry has gradually been improved. This is reached by reevaluation and technical improvement of the test equipment. By adjusting sound properties and some other practical adjustments, positive test results in otologically healthy subjects increased. Despite the fact that the test results were improved, opening of the eustachian tube could not in all cases, that is, 100%, been registered. Moreover, the reproducibility of this test method needs further confirmation.
Sonotubometry has great advantages above other eustachian tube ventilation function tests, such as the fact that sonotubometry can be performed on ears having an intact membrane, measurements take place under physiological circumstances and are very easily tolerated and performed in children.
Because of the possibility to improve sonotubometry in the past, we expected sonotubometry still to be capable of more improvement, and efforts to do so seem justified in view of the fact that there are important advantages of this method.
We developed a new sonotubometer and made some changes in sound properties and test methods. By doing so, there is a great positive test response, more than 90% in otologically healthy adults and 80% in children. More important is the fact that the measurements are perfectly reproducible. Research is ongoing to confirm the usefulness and quality of our sonotubometer.
