The Evaluation of Semicircular Canal Function in Children with Secretory Otitis Media / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the vestibular functions ,especially the semicircular canal function in children with secretory otitis media (SOM ) .Methods A total of 24 children with SOM of median age of 8 .5 years had effusion that lasted about 3 to18 months ,compared with 12 children without effusion in the middle ear with the median age of 7 .9 years .The two groups received pure tone audiometry ,acoustic immitance and semicircular canal functions ,including the saccadic test ,the tracking test ,the gaze test and spontaneous nystagmus test .Results The 24 children with SOM had conductive hearing loss ,including 11 mild cases and 13 moderate case .The 12 children without SOM had the normal hearing .There were significant differences in semicircular canal functions between the two groups (8/24 & 0/12 , P<0 .05) .Age ,genders ,hearing -loss degrees and vertigo were not the significant factors which affected the semicircular canal function .Conclusion The function of semicircular canal was affected in children with SOM ,but the mechanisms were still not clear .