Audiologic manifestations in otitis media.

The pathologic processes that affect the middle ear transmission mechanisms in otitis media are dynamically variable and may cause different degrees of severity and changing pure tone configurations. By the same token, different disease conditions may yield similar audiometric curves. The air-bone gap is the chief indicator of middle ear abnormality but rarely provides a quantifying measure or a means of differential diagnosis. The clinician and audiologist must concern themselves singularly and together in achieving a correct diagnosis especially when there is concomitant neurosensory hearing loss. They must apply all the facilities at their disposal in order to correlate the otoscopic clinical findings with the magnitude and type of hearing loss.