Role of Tympanoplasty in improvement of Hearing disorders: A review of literature

Restoration of hearing is associated with re-socialization of those affected and thus forms an important aspect of rehabilitation of individuals suffering from chronic suppurative otitis media. The surgeons with time have become more interested in returning back the hearing along with treating infection in the middle ear cleft. The zeal to restore hearing has lead to the evolution of newer surgical techniques as well as improved indicators of surgical outcome. However, even after six decades of introduction of tympanoplasty, the goal of achieving stable and long term hearing results continues to be ambiguous. Different authors in the past have used different methods to compare the postoperative hearing results. Lack of universal criteria and the shortcomings of the different variables used in different populations has been a major obstacle in reporting of improved hearing results after tympanoplasty. Postoperative air conduction threshold, average hearing gain, post-operative air-bone gap and air bone gap closure are few of the parameters commonly used to assess the hearing outcome of tympanoplasty. The article provides a comprehensive review of the parameters when used alone or in combination with others and the results in terms of success obtained in light of these variables.