Hearing Evaluation Post Canal Wall-Up (CWU) Tympanoplasty on Patients with Safe Type Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media

Objective: Otitis media is a contagious inflammatory illness of the middle ear that might have a sudden onset and a complete resolution, or it can have a persistent presentation and long-term implications. Surgical treatment is available for all kinds of otitis media. Different types of operations include canal wall-up, canal wall-down, and their variations. The wall-up approach of the two canals with or without posterior tympanotomies, also known as tympanoplasty surgery, preserves the rear wall of the ear canal. Material and Methods: Hearing evaluation was conducted after canal wall-up tympanoplasty surgery at the outpatient clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Dr. Soetomo Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia over a period of two years (2018-2019). Results: Two hundred and thirty-seven patients underwent from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019. However, only 74 (31.2%) of them had complete medical records after surgery. Fifty-nine ears (79.7%) experienced a better hearing threshold, six ears (8.1%) did not improve, and nine ears (12.2%) deteriorated. The hearing threshold improvement was of a magnitude of 10.9 dB; before surgery, it was 56.6 dB, and after surgery, it became 45.6 dB. Conclusion: A 10.9-dB improvement in hearing threshold mean was observed among patients undergoing canal wall-up tympanoplasty, whereas the bone gap improvement between pre-and post-tympanoplasty was 6.9 dB.