Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the demographic characteristics, foreign body (FB) types, treatment approaches and complications of pediatric patients with FB detected in the external ear canal. Methods: The files of pediatric patients who were found to have FBs in the external auditory canal by ENT specialists between December 2020 and February 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. The age, gender, type of FBs, treatment methods and complications of the patients were recorded. Results: A total of 108 patients (66 male (61.1%) and 42 female (38.9%) patients) with FB detected in the external ear canal were included in the study. The patients' ages ranged from 1 to 17 years and the median age was 5.0 (4.0) years. FBs were detected in the right ear in 64 (59.3%) patients, in the left ear in 41 (38.0%) patients, and in both ears in 3 (2.8%) patients. The most common FBs were beads (31.5%), insects (9.3%), pencil tips (8.3%) and cotton (8.3%). Complications were observed in 9.3% of the cases. FBs were removed under outpatient conditions in 100 (92.6%) patients, while they were removed under general anesthesia in 8 (7.4%) patients. Conclusion: FBs in the external ear canal were frequently seen in children aged 5 years and younger. Most of the FBs consisted of inorganic materials such as beads. In order to avoid complications, especially in the presence of a round and hard FB that cannot be removed with simple applications, consultation from an ENT specialist should be requested.

Objective: Sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss (SISHL) is defined as an audiological emergency and although many studies have been conducted on the factors affecting prognosis, there is no consensus yet. The aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic value of clinical and audiological factors in patients with SISHL. Patients and Method: The data of 210 patients, 118 male and 92 female, who were treated for SISHL, were analyzed retrospectively. Demographic data, audiometry findings, additional symptoms and diseases of the patients were recorded. Degree of hearing loss; were classified as mild (26-40 dB), moderate (41-55 dB), moderately-severe (56-70 dB), severe (71-90 dB) and profound (> 90 dB) according to pure tone audiometry test. The type of hearing loss was determined as descending type, ascending type, midfrequency type and flat type. The patients were divided into three groups as those who started treatment in the first 3 days, between 3-10 days and after 10 days. The effects of age, gender, audiometric findings, additional symptoms and diseases on pre-treatment hearing level, post-treatment hearing level and hearing gain levels were evaluated. Results: The median age of the patients was 46.0 (18.0) years. The most common flat audiogram (54.8 %) was seen in the patients. It was observed that patients with flat type audiograms had more hearing loss and less hearing gain. It was determined that hearing gain was higher in patients with severe hearing loss (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the pre-treatment and posttreatment hearing levels (p; 0.051 and 0.409, respectively) according to the treatment initiation time, but there was a significant difference in the hearing gain levels (p = 0.005). In patients who started treatment in the first 3 days, the gain was higher than those who started after 4-10 days and 10 days. It was observed that there was no significant difference in pre-treatment and posttreatment hearing levels and hearing gain levels according to gender, affected ear direction, additional findings and presence of diseases. Conclusion: Early initiation of treatment was found to be the most important prognostic factor in SISHL. Raising public awareness for early diagnosis and treatment will reduce the sequelae that may occur due to SISHL.