[Do neomycin ointment dressings damage the inner-ear when used in the external auditory canal or the radical mastoidectomy cavity? (author's transl)].

When in low concentration (0.38%) in an ointment base neomycin within the middle ear does not damage the inner ear. Animal experiments show that doses 10 times greater do not damage the hair cells, but when in aqueous solution all hair cells are destroyed. Many years experience has confirmed that neomycin ointment packing for postoperative ears and infected radical mastoid cavities does not produce inner ear damage. These patients have been carefully monitored by audiometry.