Can Wideband Tympanometry Be Used as a Screening Test for Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence?

• Published in: Clinical and experimental otorhinolaryngology Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 249 - 254
• Main Authors: Demir, Emine, Afacan, Nazife Nur, Celiker, Metin, Celiker, Fatma Beyazal, İnecikli, Mehmet Fatih, Terzi, Suat, Dursun, Engin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) Korean Society of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 01-08-2019; 대한이비인후과학회
• Subjects: Acoustic Impedance Test; Dehiscence; Original; Resonance Frequency; Semicircular Canal; Tympanometry; 이비인후과학; Tympanometry; Acoustic Impedance Test; Semicircular Canal; Resonance Frequency; Dehiscence
• ISSN: 1976-8710; 2005-0720
• DOI: 10.21053/ceo.2018.01137

We explored whether wideband tympanometry (WBT) could be used as a screening test for superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD), and obtained new WBT data (given that the test is not yet in common clinical use) on patients with SSCD.
We compared the WBT data of patients clinically and radiologically diagnosed with SSCD in our hospital between 2013 and 2018 to those of healthy volunteers. We compared the resonance frequency (RF), maximum absorbance frequency (MAF), and maximum absorbance ratio (MAR). The t-test was used for statistical analysis with the significance level set to P<0.05. In addition, we used receiver operating characteristic analysis to derive cutoff values for SSCD diagnosis in terms of sensitivity and specificity.
Seventeen patients (four with bilateral and 13 with unilateral disease; 17 ears) diagnosed with SSCD and 27 healthy volunteers (47 ears) were included. The mean RFs of the SSCD patients and healthy subjects were 548.7 Hz (range, 243 to 853 Hz) and 935.1 Hz (range, 239 to 1,875 Hz), respectively (P<0.001). The mean MARs of the SSCD patients and healthy subjects were 89.4% (range, 62% to 100%) and 82.4% (range, 63% to 99%), respectively (P=0.005). The mean MAFs of the SSCD patients and healthy subjects were 1,706.3 Hz (range, 613 to 3,816 Hz) and 2,668 Hz (range, 876 to 4,387 Hz), respectively (P<0.001). In terms of SSCD diagnosis, a MAR above 86% afforded 81% sensitivity and 77% specificity; an RF below 728 Hz, 86% sensitivity and 81% specificity; and an MAF below 1,835 Hz, 79% sensitivity and 67% specificity.
WBT may be a useful clinical screening test for SSCD. The RF and MAF were lower, and the MAR higher, in SSCD patients than in normal controls.