The usefulness of wideband absorbance in the diagnosis of otosclerosis.

Objective

To compare wideband absorbance (WBA) patterns between ears with otosclerosis and normal hearing ears and to investigate if WBA findings could be useful in the diagnosis of otosclerosis.

Design

WBA was obtained at 107 frequency samples ranging from 0.226 to 8 kHz (24 per octave). A T-test was performed to compare between WBA in ears with otosclerosis and in normal hearing ears. The ability of WBA to discriminate between the patients with otosclerosis from the normal hearing participants was tested with a receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis.Study sample: Thirty-five patients with otosclerosis (age 31-64) and thirty-five normal hearing volunteers (age 32-64).

Results

In frequency range 0.432-1.059 kHz, mean WBA in otosclerosis was significantly lower than mean WBA in normal hearing ears and in frequency range 4.238-8 kHz mean WBA in otosclerosis was significantly higher than mean WBA in normal hearing ears. The ROC analysis revealed that ears with otosclerosis and normal hearing ears could be distinguished based on mean WBA in frequency range >0.5 ≤ 1 kHz (AUC = 0.673) and based on mean WBA in frequency range >4 ≤ 8 kHz (AUC = 0.769).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that WBA findings in ears with otosclerosis differ from WBA findings in normal hearing ears.