Interpretation of Sonotubometry A Critical View of the Acoustical Measurement of the Opening of the Eustachian Tube

Lildholdt, Torben; Brask, Torben; Hvidegaard, T.

doi:10.3109/00016488409107561

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The difference in the duration between group A and children was about 80 ms. This seems to mean that the adult-type tubal function is the muscular open type which is dependent on swallowing and that the opening and closing movement is carried out properly on swallowing [1,5,6, 8,13,14]. The tubal function of a patient with aeronautic otitis media was examined during convalescence; it was shown that the sonotubometric duration remained almost constant, while the amplitude changed paral lel with the improvement in the finding of the tympanic membrane.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sonotubometric Measurement of the Eustachian Tube Function by Means of Band Noise

Okubo

Watanabe

Shibusawa

et al. 1987

ORL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Eustachian tube is well known as an organ serving the ventilation and drainage of the tympanic cavity and mastoid. Ventilation is carried out by the opening and closing of the Eustachian tube accompanying swallowing movements. Until now there has been no instrument to quantify these motor activities of the tube necessary for its function as a ventilator. The author developed a generally applicable sonotubometer Model WIO-01 with the help of Siemens Hearing Institute K.K. for automatic measurement of the aforesaid tubal function with the use of 7 kHz full-octave band noise. In a sonotubometric trial with 32 adult femal subjects, the duration of patency of the Eustachian tube was 288.5 ± 138.5 ms, and the amplitude eliciting response was 16.4 ± 8.3 dB. The positive response rate was 89.1 %. In 89 children aged 4–12 years, a positive response was detected in 117 ears (61.9%). The mean duration of patency was 337.7 ± 154.4 ms, and the amplitude 16.3 ± 7.2 dB. It is physiological to have tubal opening and closing during natural swallowing. It is therefore important to understand the tubal function when dealing with tympanoplasty and diseases caused by tubal dysfunction.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sonotubometric Measurement of the Eustachian Tube Function by Means of Band Noise

Okubo

Watanabe

Shibusawa

et al. 1987

ORL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One of them is sonotubometry. It is based on the measurement of sound waves that can pass through the ET; however, performing the method is challenging (3). The other method is the manometric test that has limitations such as insufficient evaluation of ET functions when the tympanic membrane is intact (4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Nasal Septal Deviation Affect the Eustachian Tube Function and Middle Ear Ventilation?

Kaya

Dağlı²,

Kırat

2018

Turk Arch Otorhinolaryngol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Our aim is to evaluate the effect of nasal septal deviation on the middle ear pressure and Eustachian Tube (ET) functions with regard to the side of deviation. Methods:A prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted. Overall, 50 patients (22 female, 28 male) undergoing septoplasty because of nasal septum deviation were included. The nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) scale was used to evaluate surgical satisfaction. Middle ear ventilation and the ET functions of a total of 100 ears were assessed with basal tympanometry and insufflation tests (Valsalva and Toynbee). The tests were performed on the operation day and eight weeks after surgery. The ears were divided into two groups: the affected side (the side of nasal obstruction) (Group 1) and the contralateral side (Group 2). The study parameters obtained before and after septoplasty were compared. Results:The NOSE scores decreased after septoplasty (12.48±4.78/7.56±3.4) (p<0.001). There were 20 functional ETs (40%) in the affected side preoperatively, which increased to 36 ears (72%) postoperatively, and functional tubes increased to 35 (70%) from 29 (58%) after surgery in the contralateral side. The changes in the tympanometry results were statistically significant for both the affected side (−33.56 daPA/−21.18 daPA) and contralateral side (29.24daPA /−24.96daPA) (p<0.05), but the alteration in the side of deviation was more evident. Conclusion:Our study shows that septoplasty may have a beneficial effect on middle ear ventilation and ET functions.

show abstract

“…However, past reports identified a variety of mechanisms that could downgrade the accuracy of ET opening assignments made using sonotubometry. These include detection by the ear-canal microphones, in the absence of a complete ET opening, of 1) typical sounds created by the maneuver itself [4,16]; 2) a patterned change in the presented nasopharyngeal sound pressure secondary to volume changes effected by raising and lowering the palate during a swallow [11,16] and 3) a patterned change in the ME sound pressure caused by increased trans-ET sound conductance with partial ET opening [4,17,29], among others. Conversely, a “true” ET opening may not be detected by sonotubometry if the presented nasopharyngeal sound is significantly attenuated [18], degraded and/or frequency-filtered on transmission through nose or the open ET[16] [22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the years, sonotubometry has been used to: diagnose ET dysfunction [10,11,3]; assign individuals with respect to their risk for developing ME disease expressions [12,13], and predict the outcome (success/failure) of ME surgeries [14,15]. However, investigators have continued to question the accuracy of sonotubometry for assigning ET openings/non-openings during a swallow or other maneuver based on theoretical considerations [4,16,11,17,18], and recommended various modifications to the core sonotubometry protocol intended to reduce false test results [16,18–20,14,21–25,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, investigators have continued to question the accuracy of sonotubometry for assigning ET openings/non-openings during a swallow or other maneuver based on theoretical considerations [4,16,11,17,18], and recommended various modifications to the core sonotubometry protocol intended to reduce false test results [16,18–20,14,21–25,11]. To date, there is no “accepted” protocol (configuration) for ET function testing using sonotubometry and no study has compared the accuracy of these different protocols for discriminating “true” ET openings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A method to assess the accuracy of sonotubometry for detecting Eustachian tube openings

Swarts

Teixeira

Banks

et al. 2014

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective Sonotubometry is a simple test for Eustachian tube opening during a maneuver. Different sonotubometry configurations were suggested to maximize test accuracy, but no method has been described for comparing sonotubometry test results with those for a definitive measure of Eustachian tube opening. Here, we present such a method and exemplify is use by an accuracy assessment of a simple sonotubometry configuration. Methods A total of 502 data-sequences from 168 test sessions in 103 adult subjects were analyzed. For each session, subjects were seated in a pressure chamber and relative middle ear over- and under-pressures created by changing chamber pressure. At each pressure, the test sequence of bilateral tympanometry, bilateral sonotubometry while the subject swallowed twice, and bilateral tympanometry was done. Tympanometric data were expressed as the fractional gradient equilibrated (FGE) by swallowing and sonotubometric signals were analyzed to record the shape of detected sound-signals. Tympanometric and sonotubometric tubal opening assignments were analyzed by cross-correlation. Results For the data-sequences with FGE=0 (n=32) evidencing no tubal opening and 1 (n=249) evidencing definitive tubal opening, detection of a sonotubometry sound-signal during a swallow had a sensitivity and specificity of 74.2% and 65.6% for identifying ET openings and an accuracy of 73.3% for assigning ET opening/non-opening by swallowing. Measures of sound-signal shape were significantly different between those groups. Conclusions This protocol allows a sonotubometry accuracy assessment for detecting Eustachian tube openings. For the test configuration used, accuracy was moderate, but this should improve as more sophisticated sonotubometry test configurations are evaluated.

show abstract

Interpretation of Sonotubometry A Critical View of the Acoustical Measurement of the Opening of the Eustachian Tube

Cited by 15 publications

References 6 publications

Sonotubometric Measurement of the Eustachian Tube Function by Means of Band Noise

Sonotubometric Measurement of the Eustachian Tube Function by Means of Band Noise

Does Nasal Septal Deviation Affect the Eustachian Tube Function and Middle Ear Ventilation?

A method to assess the accuracy of sonotubometry for detecting Eustachian tube openings

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About