CORRELATION BETWEEN TYMPANIC MEMBRANE PERFORATION AND HEARING LOSS

Introduction: Perforation of the tympanic membrane primarily results from middle ear infections, trauma or iatrogenic causes. The perforation causes conductive hearing loss by reducing the surface area available for sound transmission to the ossicular chain. Objective: The objective was to analyze the characteristics of tympanic membrane perforations in relation to hearing loss and to determine the type and degree of hearing loss. Materials and methods: We analyzed audiometric, otoscopic findings and medical reports of 218 patients, 114 males (52.3%) and 104 females (47.7%), aged 9 to 75 years (mean age of 47.9 years), examined during the period of November 2012 to October 2015. For statistical data analysis we used Chi-square test with level of significance p