BONE CONDUCTION STUDIES AFTER FENESTRATION SURGERY AND PREDICTIONS OF HEARING RESULTS

REPORTS that fenestration surgery does not significantly alter bone conduction have been made by Lempert,¹ Lowy,² and Thurlow, Davis, Silverman, and Walsh.³ In 1948 two authors, Juers⁴ and Woods,⁵ independently reported significant gain in bone-conduction findings after fenestration. Since these reports, Carhart,⁶ Shambaugh,⁷ Woodman,⁸ McConnell,⁹ McConnell and Carhart,¹⁰ and Nilsson¹¹ have verified the findings of Juers and Woods. Carhart stated that the improved bone conduction was due to the removal of the mechanical effect of stapes fixation. When one considers the variables involved in evaluating a definite gain in bone conduction, a casual impression might be that bone conduction is, in most cases, a true estimate of the "cochlear reservoir of hearing," as Lempert has referred to it and that the variations are due to faulty technique. Some of the variables involved may be listed as follows:

1. 1. Change