ABSTRACT
Background and Aim: The orofacial malformations are among the most common congenital abnormalities of the head and face. Treatment of such patients aims at proportionate growth of the head and face as well as normal speaking and hearing. The objective of this study was to assess the hearing status and the frequency of chronic otitis media by audiological evaluations in the cleft palate patients with or without cleft lip. In the Euro-cleft project, audiometry and tympanometry are considered as necessary tests to evaluate hearing. Since there is a huge statistical difference in the results of the treatment of such patients in different geographical regions, record and assessment of the status of the treatment of the patients during the course of treatment, based on the specified standard records, in every center is necessary
Material and Method: In this cross sectional study, we assessed the hearing status of 200 non-syndromic patients [110 boys and 90 girls]. The mean age of the patients was 1.5+/-1.03 years. Based on clinical ear examination, tympanometry and auditory brain response [ABR] were performed at appropriate age for every patient
Results: According to the results of ABR 5.8% of the ears were normal, 54% had mild hearing loss [20-40 db], and 40.3% had moderate or severe hearing loss. In general, we detected hearing impairment in 94.2% of the patients. The result of tympanometry revealed type B tymapanogram in 89.8%, type C in 3.7% and type A in 6.6% of the patients. After clinical examination, we found that insertion of V.T. is needed for 92.2% of the patients and, there was no difference between the girls and boys in this regard in both age groups of below and above one year old
Conclusion: Considering the high incidence of conductive hearing loss in cleft palate patients and necessity of better understanding of hearing and middle ear problems, similar studies in the future, with comparison of their results in different medical centers in Iran and other countries can lead to development of new treatment methods in regard to primary surgeries of palate and ENT care