Otology

Question 1

The malleus contacts the tympanic membrane at a structure called the __________.

Answer 1

umbo

Question 2

What percent of Americans age 20-69 have hearing loss?

Answer 2

16% (8.5% of those age 20 - 29!)

Question 3

What is the incidence of congenital hearing deficits?

Answer 3

2/1,000

Question 4

Almost ________ of adults older than 75 have hearing loss.

Answer 4

half

Question 5

Hearing issues were ranked second only to ___________ as the most debilitating condition in the elderly.

Answer 5

arthritis

Question 6

What are the effects of hearing loss?

Answer 6

Increased risk of depression, anxiety, paranoia, and poor social relationships

Lower personal and financial success

Risk of being perceived as having a cognitive disorder (by medical professions and others)

Question 7

There are three types of hearing loss (although commonly people break them into two categories). What are they?

Answer 7

Conductance (outer/middle ear)

Cochlear (inner ear)

Neural (vestibular nerve Schwannomas; neuromas)

Question 8

What is the classic sign of conductive hearing loss?

Answer 8

Hearing through bone is better than hearing through air.

Question 9

After perforation, the ___________ can regenerate.

Answer 9

tympanic membrane

Question 10

What is cholesteatoma?

Answer 10

A skin cyst that behaves in a tumor-like way;

Question 11

What is the basis of infant hearing tests?

Answer 11

Otologists place a tiny microphone in the ear and play a tone. Because of the amplification of the sound by outer hair cells, there will be a small oto-emission.

Question 12

What is presbycusis?

Answer 12

A gradual, progressive, bilateral hearing loss caused by age-associated changes; leads to decreased ability to understand normal sounds and decreased toleration of louder sounds.

Question 13

Wearing hearing aids has been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing _____________.

Answer 13

dementia

Question 14

Most congenital hearing loss is associated with ___________.

Answer 14

non-syndromic deafness

Question 15

A mother has a child that is deaf. She has no family history of deafness, but she recalls getting sick during her pregnancy. What agent most likely caused the deafness?

Answer 15

Cytomegalovirus

Question 16

Describe the edges of the external ear canal (specifically, what is beneath the skin as you move from superficial to deep).

Answer 16

The superficial section of the external ear canal has cartilage beneath its surface. About halfway through the canal, however, there ceases to be cartilage and bone is deep to the skin.

Question 17

The Eustachian tube provides what functions to the middle ear?

Answer 17

Ventilation and mucociliary clearance

Question 18

What is the hearing test called?

Answer 18

Audiometric testing

Question 19

What is “hearing level in dB” (the Y axis of the audiometric test)?

Answer 19

The sound of the noise, given in micropascals, divided by 20 micropascals (which is the absolute lower limit of human hearing)

Question 20

In an audiometric test, word recognition tells you what?

Answer 20

Whether the patient has neural hearing loss; if people recognize tone but not words, then a CN VIII issue should be ruled out.

Question 21

True or false: most forms of non-syndromic, prelingual hearing loss are autosomal dominant.

Answer 21

False. Most are autosomal recessive (due to connexin 26 defect)

Question 22

Describe Meniere’s disease.

Answer 22

A disorder in which the endolymph area is abnormally expanded; results in sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and sense of aural fullness

Question 23

What are the audiometric tests that indicate sensorineural hearing loss?

Answer 23

Unilateral loss of tone and speech recognition