Conductive hearing loss in patients with velopharyngeal insufficiency.

This study involved audiologic and otologic evaluations of 77 subjects with VPI not due to overt cleft palate, aged 4-16 years. Audiological findings revealed that: 49 per cent had a hearing loss (74 per cent conductive, 16 per cent sensori neural, 10 per cent mixed) and that 18 per cent of the subjects had inconsistent audiologic findings. Otologic evaluations revealed that 44 per cent had abnormalities of the tympanic membrane. It can be concluded that the VPI subjects differed appreciably from the normal and more closely resembled a cleft palate population.