Temporalis fascia, placed as an underlay graft, is commonly used to repair tympanic membrane perforations. Graft failure, however, is a well recognized complication. Grafts are often allowed to dry out during the procedure and, therefore, are often positioned in a dry or partially dehydrated state and only become fully rehydrated after placement. This study looked at how the size of the temporalis fascia alters with its state of hydration. The size of 20 temporalis fascia grafts was measured when fresh, after flattening and allowing them to dry, and finally after rehydrating the grafts with 0.9 per cent saline solution. Significant shrinkage was demonstrated. It is therefore proposed that a cause of increased failure rates, particularly in anterior myringoplasties, is loss of underlay due to graft rehydration and shrinkage. Thus graft shrinkage should be considered when positioning the graft.

During the years 1979–81, three different surgical techniques were used in the treatment of 87 ears with extensive cholesteatoma. All procedures were performed in one stage by the same surgeon. Ten to 13 years after the operations about 70 per cent of ears operated on by the canal wall up technique had developed a new cholesteatoma, which in most cases was recurrent, or a deep retraction pocket. A modification of this technique with mastoid obliteration resulted in a similar failure rate. In contrast, ears operated on by the canal wall down technique (in most cases with mastoid obliteration) had acceptable stability with a long-term recurrence rate of about 15 per cent. Most patients in the canal wall down group had a dry ear without significant cavity problems. Hearing in these patients was as least as good as hearing in patients with a preserved canal wall. We conclude that a meticulous one-stage canal wall down technique in ears with extensive cholesteatoma results in a high percentage of unproblematic, stable ears with satisfactory function. In contrast, if the posteriorcanal wall is preserved, recurrent cholesteatoma is the rule more than the exception.

Glomus tumours involving the middle ear and the cerebellopontine angle are reported with emphasis on audiological findings. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), angiographic and pathological results are presented. Audiological tests, including impedance audiometry, evoked otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem responses, are valuable in evaluation of the effect of glomus tumours on the auditory system as well as their pathological extent.

The hybrid bone-substitute ionomeric cement is suitable for restoring the original anatomy of the posterior canal wall. During a four-year period the posterior meatal wall was rebuilt with ionomeric cement in 74 patients. The canal wall was totally rebuilt in38 patients, two-thirds rebuilt in 22 cases, and one-third rebuilt in14 cases. On the meatal side, the canal wall was covered by a musculo-periosteal (Palva) flap. In the majority of cases, the drum was closed with (cartilage)-perichondrium. Revisions were performed in 27 patients (due partially to cholesteatoma, and/or poor visualization of radical mastoidectomy cavities). The ears were non-infected at thetime of operation.

Permanent epithelialization of the bone replacement material was achieved in 57 cases, with secondary closure of a cutaneous defect of the meatal wall being required in six cases. The auditory canal wall had to be removed in 17 patients owing to deficient soft-tissue coverage, persistent inflammation, and/or partial adhesive processes with development of cholesteatoma. In terms of surgical technique, utilization of the material over a follow-up period of maximally seven years proved it to be a sophisticated procedure for reconstructing themeatal wall. Despite the finesse of the surgical technique employed, the overall failure rate of 31 per cent was inadmissibly high. Implantation of the material should therefore be restricted to middle ears with permanent ventilation and no trace of infection.

Fifty-three patients, 34 adults and 19 children have been implanted over the first five years of the cochlear implant programme at the North Riding Infirmary (NRI). For a small centre, based at a district general hospital, our complication rates compare favourably with others: 11.7 per cent adult and 10.5 per cent paediatric major complications. Data on all our patients was gathered prospectively as part of the national cochlear implant programme, and we report and discuss all complications from this centre.

Oliver St John Gogarty – Otolaryngologist to fashionable Edwardian Dublin – was a distinguished poet and a Senator in the fledgling Irish Free State after its establishment in 1922. He numbered amongst his acquaintances the poet William Butler Yeats, the novelist James Joyce and a host of political and literary persona who helped to shape modern Ireland. He was satirised as ‘stately plump Buck Mulligan’ in Joyce's novel Ulysses.

There is a growth in the demand for clinical practice to be evidence based. Recent years have seen a rise in the number of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTS). Such trials while acknowledged as the gold standard for evidence can be difficult to perform in surgical specialities. We have recently identified a low proportion of RCTS in the otolaryngology literature. Our aim was to identify any trend in the number of published RCTS within the ENT literature over a 30-year period and to identify which areas of our speciality lend themselves to this form of study design. A Medline search of 10 prominent journals published between 1966 and 1995 was performed. Two hundred and ninety-six RCTS were identified. Only five were published before 1980. Two hundred (71 per cent) of RCTS were in the areas of otology and rhinology. An encouraging trend is seen in RCTS within ENT literature.

Tinnitus retraining therapy has been heralded as a major advance in the alleviation of tinnitus perception. A cornerstone of this technique is to use white noise produced by a white noise generator (WNG) over a period of several months in order to assist the patient to habituate to their tinnitus. There are three factors which influence the frequency spectrum of the perceived noise such that the perception of white noise from a WNG is unlikely. These factors are the actual spectrum of the emitted noise, the ear canal resonance of the patient and the hearing sensitivity of the patient.

Advocates of tinnitus retraining therapy state that white noise is the optimal stimulation to assist habituation of tinnitus. This paper demonstrates that this optimal situation is unlikely to be achieved and that this may account for the long periods needed for patients to achieve benefit from the technique. The development of devices that allow for the above factors to be countered is suggested.

The presence of aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria on the surface of pacifiers used by children with acute otitis media was investigated. The surface of 40 recently used pacifiers was swabbed after they were allowed to dry for five to six minutes. The swabs were processed quantitatively for the presence of aerobic bacteria. The antibacterial activity of the pacifier material was tested in vitro. Microorganisms were isolated from 21 (52.5 per cent) pacifiers. The number of colonies per pacifier varied between one and 35 (average six). The isolates included eight α-haemolytic streptococci, six Staphylococcus epidermis, five Candida albicans, five α-haemolytic streptococci, three Neisseria spp. and two Staphylococcus aureus. The pacifier material was shown to be inhibitory against S. aureus. This study illustrated that pacifiers do not contain high numbers of organisms and therefore are not likely to serve as a source of persistence of transfer of organisms.

Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss can be caused by a variety of temporal bone abnormalities including primary cochlear otoscierosis, local and systemic bony diseases and some metabolic conditions. These may be identified using computerized tomography (CT), with attenuation recordings taken across the cochlear capsule (CT densitometry). Eighty patients with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were screened over a period of six and a half years using this technique, and only three cases (3.8 per cent) of treatable disease were detected. Positive yields may be increased by screening selected cases with other clinical or biochemical stigmata of temporal bone disease.

Fifteen cases of nasal septal perforation were repaired with a tragal cartilage–temporoparietal and deep temporal fascia sandwich technique using a modification of the approach previously described (Hussain and Kay, 1992). Successful closure was achieved in 14 patients (100 per cent) after an observation time of up to two years. The operative technique and advantages of the modified approach are described.

A prospective study of hearing loss in 120 cases with non-explosive blast injury of the ear, gathered over a six-year period, is presented. Thirty-three (27.5 per cent) patients had normal hearing, 57 (47.5 per cent) conductive hearing loss, 29 (24.2 per cent) mixed loss and one (0.8 per cent) had pure sensorineural loss. The severity of conductive hearing loss correlated with the size of the eardrum perforation; only a marginal difference was found between water and air pressure injuries, with respect to this type of hearing loss. Of all locations, perforations involving the posterior-inferior quadrant of the eardrum were associated with the largest air-bone gap. Audiometric assessment revealed that none of the patients suffered ossicular chain damage. Three patterns of sensorineural hearing loss were identified: a dip at a single frequency, two separate dips, and abnormality of bone conduction in several adjacent high frequencies. Involvement of several frequencies was associated with a more severe hearing loss than a dip in a single frequency. Healing of the perforation was always accompanied by closure of the air-bone gap, while the recovery of the sensorineural hearing loss was less favourable.

The use of a rotation pedicled flap, entitled the ‘Singapore Swing’, comprising temporalis fascia and mastoid periosteum, is presented as a new method of promoting healing in ‘open’ mastoid surgery for chronic ear discharge. Cadaver studies show that the main blood supply of the flap is derived from a branch of the postauricular artery which enters the pedicle near the mastoid tip. A review of the first 14 operations showed complete healing with dry ears and intact tympanic membranes in all instances, three cases requiring secondary grafting of residual perforations. We consider the results sufficiently encouraging to merit an extended trial ofthe technique.

Experience with a straight, vertical incision for cochlear implantation in 168 patients of all ages is reported and comparison made with previous experience using a 'C' shaped incision in 173 patients with regard to complications encountered. With the straight incision the only complication was a wound infection which settled in one week; this is in contrast to the 'C'shaped incision, which was associated with a number of serious complications. The straight incision also compared favourably with the other incisions commonly used for cochlear implantation and appears to offer advantages over them.

The requirement to phase out mercuric oxide (mercury) batteries on environmental grounds has led to the widespread introduction of zinc-air technology. The possibility arises that high drain hearing aids may not be adequately catered for by zinc-air cells, leading to poor performance. This study investigated the hearing aid user's ability to perceive differences between zinc-air and mercury cells in normal everyday usage. The data was collected for 100 experienced hearing aid users in field trials. Users report 50 per cent greater life for zinc-air cells in high power aids and 28 per cent in low power aids. The average life of the zinc-air cells range from 15 days in high power to 34 days in low power aids. Users are able to perceive a difference in sound quality in favour of zinc-air cells for low and medium power aids. The hearing aid population is not disadvantaged by phasing out mercury cells.

The aim of this study was the determination of the incidence of symptoms of audio-vestibular dysfunction and of abnormalities on audio-vestibular testing in patients found to have a unilateral meningioma of the cerebello-pontine angle (CPA). The case notes of 25 patients diagnosed with unilateral, sporadic and histologically proven CPA meningioma were retrospectively reviewed. The age range of this series was 31–71 years, with a mean age of 50 years. Two patients were male (eight per cent) and 23 were female (92 per cent). The mean length of history was 44.7 months. The distribution of tumour size was skewed toward larger tumours, with 15 cases (60 per cent) having tumours with a maximum diameter greater than 3.5 cm on imaging. Pure tone audiometry was normal in five cases (20 per cent), and no patients exhibited the high frequency sensorineural hearing loss that is characteristic of vestibular schwannoma. Speech audiometry was normal in 50 per cent of cases. Caloric testing was abnormal in 77 per cent of the 18 cases tested, whilst auditory brainstem responses (ABR) were abnormal in 100 per cent of the 18 cases who had sufficient hearing for this test to be possible. The presence of normal audiometry in patients with a proven CPA lesion indicates that, if in a protocol for investigation, asymmetry of hearing is mandatory then some pathology will be missed. Any suspicion of a CPA lesion warrants investigation even in the absence of hearing loss.

The investigation of choice for the identification of CPA lesions has become magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). If this technique is not available then this study indicates that ABR is a suitable and sensitive investigation. It should be borne in mind however that the data in this study has been derived from a series of predominantly large tumours, and the sensitivity of ABR to smaller CPA meningiomata may fall, as is the case for vestibular schwannoma.

The hearing function of 50 children with bacterial meningitis was evaluated at the second and 10th days, and eight weeks after admission with auditory brain system responses (ABR) to investigate whether meningitis causes hearing loss. Normal values were obtained in all tests from both ears of 24 patients (48 per cent). Twelve patients (24 per cent) had temporary, and seven (14 per cent) patients had persistent mild degree hearing loss. Severe hearing loss was detected bilaterally in five (10 per cent) patients and unilaterally in two (four per cent) patients. Patients with other complications such as subdural effusion, convulsion, brain oedema and paralysis were found to have a higher incidence of hearing loss. We observed that patients treated with dexamethasone had 7.7 per cent persistent hearing loss, 11.6 per cent mild hearing loss, 34.6 per cent transient hearing loss, but in the group who did not receive dexamethasone there was 19.2 per cent persistent hearing loss, 15.3 per cent mild hearing loss and 11.6 per cent transient hearing loss. There were other signficant differences between the two groups in restoration of normal body temperature, the CSF/plasma glucose concentration ratio was elevated, CSF (cerebro-spinal fluid) protein concentration was decreased and the cell count in the CSF was decreased in the dexamethasone group, significantly more than the group who were not receiving dexamethasone. The hearing loss tended to be more frequent among younger children.

In order to study high jugular bulb management in lateral skull base surgery, an anatomical study was conducted on 30 temporal bones by examining the relationship between the internal auditory canal (IAC) and the jugular bulb. The following parameters were measured: 1) Height of the jugular bulb (H) … distance between the level of the jugular bulb dome and the line passing through the confluence of the sigmoid sinus with the jugular bulb (SS-JB), 2) Mastoid length (ML) … distance between the mastoid process and middle cranial fossa dura, 3) Distance between the most inferior part of the porus acousticus and jugular bulb dome (A), 4) Distance between the porus acousticus and SS-JB (B). The jugular bulb was defined as high when it occupied more than two thirds of (B). The incidence of a high jugular bulb was 23 per cent in this study. When the jugular bulb was high, the mean (H) and (A) were 9.4 ± 1.9 mm and 2.7 ± 0.5 mm, respectively. (H) was higher on the right side than on the left side. No statistically significant difference was found between small and large mastoids (t-test: p>0.05). It was concluded that when a high jugular bulb was encountered during lateral skull base surgery, the jugular bulb position allows a very small working area inferior to the IAC. In these cases, a 3 or 4 mm depression of the jugular bulb is necessary in order to expose the lower cranial nerves. This can be accomplished by lowering the jugular bulb with the technique already described.

The effect of drinking water fluoridation on the prevalence of clinical otoscierosis was investigated in an area where the natural waters have a very low fluoride content. The methods included a retrospective chart review and a residential history questionnaire. Only subjects born between 1948 and 1962 were included. In this age group, the prevalence of clinical otosclerosis was found to be 0.35 per cent of persons exposed to fluoridated tap water and 0.32 per cent of those consuming fluoride-poor water. It seems that a sodium fluoride intake of 1 to 3 mg daily cannot prevent the development of clinical otosclerosis in a lowfluoride area.