Kawase Tetsuaki, Hori Yoko, Kikuchi Toshiaki, Oshima Takeshi, Kobayashi Toshimitsu
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan.
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2008 Aug;265(8):893-7. doi: 10.1007/s00405-007-0560-1. Epub 2008 Jan 5.
The effect of the mastoid pneumatization on sound transmission from the nasopharyngeal cavity to the inner ear, which is one of the important factors to indicate the severity of the patulous eustachian tube (ET), are investigated in patients with patulous ET. Twenty ears of 13 subjects with patulous ET were retrospectively analyzed. Sound transmission from the nasopharyngeal cavity to the inner ear was evaluated by observing the masking effects of noise presented in the nasopharyngeal cavity on the auditory threshold (nasal noise masking audiometry). The relationship between this masking effect and mastoid pneumatization were examined among the patients with similar conditions of ET patency. The masking effect of nasally presented noise was greater with less developed mastoid pneumatization. The present results indicate that the symptoms associated with patulous ET may be more distressful in patients with poorly developed mastoid cavity than in those with well-aerated mastoid under similar conditions of ET patency.
在咽鼓管异常开放（ET）患者中，研究了乳突气化对声音从鼻咽腔传至内耳的影响，这是表明咽鼓管异常开放严重程度的重要因素之一。对13例咽鼓管异常开放患者的20只耳朵进行了回顾性分析。通过观察鼻咽腔中呈现的噪声对听阈的掩蔽效应（鼻噪声掩蔽测听法）来评估声音从鼻咽腔传至内耳的情况。在咽鼓管通畅程度相似的患者中，研究了这种掩蔽效应与乳突气化之间的关系。乳突气化发育较差时，经鼻呈现噪声的掩蔽效应更大。目前的结果表明，在咽鼓管通畅程度相似的情况下，乳突腔发育不良的咽鼓管异常开放患者可能比乳突气良好的患者症状更痛苦。
