Congenital atresia of the external auditory canal is infrequently encountered by the otologist and until recently has been greeted with pessimism and usually passed up for surgical correction. Since 1947, however, when the work of Pattee1 and Ombredanne2 opened the way to rewarding surgical treatment, understanding of this difficult combination exploratory and corrective procedure has advanced to the point that surgical treatment can be urged in bilateral atresia with reasonable assurance that improvement in hearing can be accomplished.
Early correction is helpful in assuring normal development of speech and is helpful to the psychological development of the patient who is adversely affected by his deformity.
Both Pattee1 and Ombredanne2 created new external auditory canals by exploration, by removal of obstructing tissues, and by skin grafting. Pattee1 depended on a skin graft against the middle-ear cavity to act as an eardrum and thus improve hearing, while