Prevention of conductive hearing loss in cleft palate patients.

One of the most common complications of cleft palate patients is the high frequency of otitis media episodes that they present, due to eustachian tube dysfunction. This is not only a problem for the otolaryngologist who must handle these patients, but just as well for the phoniatrician, who must evaluate and rehabilitate the speech and language disorders which can be enhanced by conductive hearing loss. Thus, we designed an isometric exercise to achieve an artificial drainage of the secretions produced in the middle ear, by means of opening the lumen of the eustachian tube, which, when done frequently enough, proved to be an excellent way to prevent secretions from remaining long enough in the middle ear cavity so as to have a secondary infection, that would lead to otitis media and subsequent conductive hearing loss. Isometric exercise also develops the muscles of each hemi-uvula.