Classification and treatment of loss of conductive hearing.

During the last decade numerous advances have been made in otolaryngology. The decade has also seen a number of modifications in diagnosis and therapeutic techniques. The most important advances were in the fields of otology and audiology. Therapeutically the treatment of deafness has seen the greatest advances. Conductive hearing loss occurs when sound cannot reach the cochlea. The blockage may be due to abnormality in the canal, the eardrum or the osicles, including the footplate of the stapes. Lesions central to the footplate produce perceptive hearing loss.