Nice to know about Ear Disorders

• MOST common cause of deafness in children in serous otitis media
• MOST common cause of deafness among adults is presbycusis
• Children are prone to otitis media because of short eustachian tube
• Presbycusis is deafness of the elderly; it is sensorineural hearing loss due to degeneration of the nervous tissues
• Presbycusis

  MOST common in: Elderly Males
• Presbycusis

  Hearing loss is predominantly high-pitched sounds, e.g. women's voice
• MOST common cause of otalgia (earache) among children is otitis media
• MOST common cause of otalgia (earache) among adults is otitis externa
• Discharge from the ear indicates perforation of the tympanic membrane
• Ear irrigation should be AVOIDED if the tympanic membrane is perforated to prevent otitis media
• Vertigo indicates disease of the vestibular system of the inner ear; accompanied by nausea and vomiting
• Tinnitus indicates disease of the cochlear system of the inner ear
• Impacted cerumen is managed by instilling olive oil or liquid paraffin ear drops or irrigating the ear with hydrogen peroxide as these substances soften the impacted wax (cerumen)
• The solution used for ear irrigation should be at body temperature to prevent dizziness
• Direct the flow of the solution to the lateral wall of the external auditory canal, NOT directly to the tympanic membrane to prevent dizziness
• Foreign bodies in the ear including insects may be removed by a probe or or irrigation with warm water
• If the foreign body is a vegetable seed, DO NOT irrigate the ear


  Vegetable seeds expand when exposed to warm water
• Otitis media is infection of the middle ear; may be associated with repeated upper respiratory tract infections; hearing loss may occur.
• Myringotomy - creating a hole in the tympanic membrane and inserting grommet is done to improve hearing
• Myringotomy

  The grommet may drop out by themselves after an average of 6 months
• Myringotomy

  The client with grommet can be ALLOWED to go swimming, but earplugs should be used