Functional hearing results in patients with otosclerosis before and after stapedotomy.

Surgical treatment of otosclerosis with stapedotomy leads to the improvement of subjective and objective problems in patients with otosclerosis. A prospective study included patients who had been treated surgically at the Department for Ear, Nose and Throat in Novi Sad in the period from September 2006 to September 2007. On the basis of the appropriate diagnostic procedures, 33 patients were diagnosed with otosclerosis. Functional hearing was assessed before and after surgery by means of pure tone audiometry. The comparison of functional results before and after surgery revealed no changes in pure tone average of bone conduction threshold (average hearing threshold for hearing range), whereas pure tone average of air conduction and pure tone average of the gap showed statistically significant improvement. The results of this study demonstrated the applicability of stapedotomy as a method for successful management of otosclerosis. This way of examination offers a new perspective on patients' health, which should be defined as a physical, psychosocial and social well-being, and not only the absence of a disease itself.