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Introduction Statistical data on prevalence of tinnitus in India and on the relationship between exposure to recreational sound/music and the presence of tinnitus are scarce. This study was conducted to assess relationship between tinnitus and the use of personal sound system(PSS) in medical students. Materials and Methods A questionnaire based study was conducted on 100 randomly selected medical students to assess their sound habits with the use of PSS. Information on commonly used intensity, frequency, duration of use, type of earphones and severity of tinnitus was sought. Conventional frequency audiometry (0.25-8kHz) was also performed. Result The prevalence of tinnitus was found to be 33%, which was on the higher side of the global prevalence data. All the medical students surveyed in this study used personal sound system. Majority of the students (45%) used PSS less than 1 hour daily. More than 60% of the students complaining of tinnitus preferred louder settings in their PSS. Discussion The most common personal sound system used was mobile phones. No statistically significant association was seen with relation to the type of personal sound system, the type of ear phone used, average duration of use and hearing loss. Tinnitus was found to have statistically significant association with volume in our study with majority having tinnitus listening to higher levels of sound. Conclusion Use of personal sound system is common in medical students. Though duration of use of the personal sound system was not associated with the complaint of tinnitus, exposure to louder sounds had statistically significant association with tinnitus.

Objective: Unilateral vocal cord palsy is a major cause of dysphonia. With umpteen number of causes being attributed to it and changing trends in etiology from place-to-place and over time, it is of utmost importance to arrive at a correct diagnosis to plan further management and to determine the prognosis. The aim was to evaluate the etiological profile of unilateral vocal cord palsy in our institute that is a tertiary referral center over the past 10 years. Materials and Methods: Case records of all patients diagnosed with unilateral vocal cord palsy who presented to Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India between 2003 and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. The exclusion criteria included patients with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal malignancies, intubation trauma, congenital vocal cord palsy and cricoarytenoid joint ankylosis. The age, gender, laterality and etiology were the factors taken into consideration. Results: A total of 277 cases spanning over the age range of 2 months to 98 years met our inclusion criteria, out of which 179 were males, and 98 were females with a male to female ratio being 1.82:1. In terms of laterality, 182 patients had left sided, and 95 had right sided vocal cord palsy. Majority of the cases were found to be in the fourth and fifth decades. The most common etiology was idiopathic 136 (49.1%). The incidence of various other etiologies were surgical trauma 60 (21.6%), nonsurgical trauma 10 (3.7%), nonlaryngeal malignancy 36 (12.9%), central/ neurological 17 (6.1%), postradiation 1 (0.3%), and other benign lesions 17 (6.1%). Among the surgical causes, the incidence of nonthyroidectomy surgeries (58.3%) was more than that of thyroidectomy (41.6%). Thyroidectomy was the single most common surgical cause for unilateral vocal cord palsy, followed by other nonthyroid neck surgeries (20%) and anterior cervical decompression (18.3%). Conclusion: The most common cause for unilateral vocal cord palsy is idiopathic. Nevertheless it is still an important sign of various underlying diseases. A thorough evaluation which must necessarily include a computerized tomographic scan from base of the skull to upper mediastinum is essential before labeling a case as idiopathic; hence, also the need for extended follow-up of the cases to avoid misdiagnosis of any underlying subclinical malignancy.

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<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> The present study aimed to know the common pathologies presenting as neck swellings in our region and their clinical, radiological, and cytopathological correlation in order to understand the nature of the lesion and accuracy of the diagnostic tools in finding a definitive diagnosis.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> Patients presenting with neck swelling to the ENT department of a tertiary care centre in Mangalore between June 2013 to July 2018 were included in the study based on retrospective and prospective sampling. Appropriate cytolopathological and radiological investigations were done and analyzed.  </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Out of 160 cases analyzed histopathology diagnosed 86.9% as benign and 13.1% as malignant. Radiologically 94.9% were diagnosed to be benign and 5.6% malignant whereas in cytological investigation 89.4% were diagnosed as benign and 6.9% as malignant while the remaining 3.8% cases were cytologically inconclusive. Intra operatively 6.9% cases had features of malignancy and rest 93% were benign. Thyroid was the most common benign neck swelling (73.2%) followed by cervical lymphadenopathy (6.9%) and thyroglossal cyst (5.6%).</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Discrepancy in clinico-radio-cytopathological correlation was highest in cases of thyroid swelling (more so in case of solitary thyroid nodule). None of the pre-operative investigations for neck swellings is 100% specific or definitive in diagnosing a benign from a malignant lesion in the neck.</p>