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<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> As the role of cortical mastoidectomy as an adjunct to tympanoplasty in the management of CSOM tubotympanic type - quiescent stage remains controversial even today; we intend to study the factors that influence the decision of ENT surgeons on whether or not to perform cortical mastoidectomy in patients with CSOM (chronic suppurative otitis media) - active or quiescent ear.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> During May to August 2016, 60 ENT surgeons within Chennai were asked to answer a pre-framed questionnaire on CSOM based on their personal surgical experience. The answers were collected by direct questionnaire method and the data subjected to appropriate statistical analysis.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> 65% surgeons expected a minimum dry ear period of ≤30 days before considering tympanoplasty alone (group 1) and the rest 35% members expected more than 30 days of dry ear period (group 2). Surgeons ≤40 years of age expected lesser duration of dry ear period prior to consideration of tympanoplasty alone (p =0.016). Group 2 surgeons performed cortical mastoidectomy in more number of cases (&gt;50%) when compared to group 1 surgeons (p =0.03) for patients who presented first to them with a wet ear. There was a mixed opinion among surgeons within group 1 itself on whether or not they would do cortical mastoidectomy when they encountered patients who had congested remnant tympanic membrane, congested middle ear mucosa, myringosclerosis, ossicular chain discontinuity, sclerotic mastoids or treated septic foci in spite of the ear being dry for a month.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Though many surgeons consider that 30 days of dry ear period is sufficient to consider tympanoplasty alone, there is a division of opinion among themselves while facing specific clinical scenarios.</p>

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> A billion youngsters are at risk of recreational noise-induced hearing loss. Motivated by WHO’s campaign ‘Make listening safe’, the objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of the habit of listening to music at high volumes using Personal Listening Devices (PLDs) among college students and to analyze their audiometric findings.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This cross-sectional study was performed between December 2019 and May 2020 on college-going students with a habit of listening to music using PLDs. PTA was performed on the eligible study subjects. A modified LHQ was given to the selected candidates to answer.  </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The study population comprised 62 boys (24.5%) and 191 girls (75.5%) of the age of 17-24 years. 77.1% of the participants listened to music through PLD, at a scale of &gt;5 on 10 (median PLD volume-7). 26.1% of students listened to music for more than 14 hours a week using their headphones or earphones. Fifteen students (5.93%) had evidence of a 4 kHz dip on PTA out of which 9 patients (3.56%) had bilateral and 6 patients (2.37%) had unilateral involvement.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Though many students had some awareness regarding safe volume levels while listening to music, not many were aware of daily sound allowance (DSA). Health education to the target population along with the addition of an in-built app in all PLDs for monitoring device volume and DSA may reduce the impact of music on hearing.</p>