Audiometry Analysis for the Assessment of Hearing Deficit in Patients with Oral Submucous Fibrosis

Introduction: Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) is a slowly progressive chronic fibrotic disease of the oral cavity extending to pharynx. Function and patency of eustachian tube gets altered when the palatal and paratubal muscles which regulate the patency of pharyngeal orifice gets affected. This leads to pain in ear along with mild to moderate conductive loss of hearing. Aim: To evaluate hearing deficit in OSMF patients and to correlate clinical stages of OSMF with degree of hearing deficits in patients. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. The study comprised of a total of 50 subjects (100 ears). Forty patients diagnosed with OSMF who reported to Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology constituted the study group. Ten normal individuals with no deleterious habits and without any previously diagnosed ear disorders constituted the control group. Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) was used for evaluating all the subjects for air conduction and bone conduction hearing loss. Values on qualitative characteristics were shown as n (% prevalence) across five study groups. Values on quantitative variables were shown as Mean +/- SD across five study groups. Inter group comparison for qualitative and quantitative variables was done using chi-square test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test respectively with Post-Hoc Bonferroni's correction for multiple group comparisons. Results: The OSMF group showed a marked degree of hearing loss compared to the control group. The distribution of mean PTA in quantitative assessment was significantly higher in group D compared to group A and group B (p-value<0.05 for both) and also the distribution of qualitative hearing loss was significantly higher in group C and group D (p-value<0.05). Conclusion: There was a significant association between OSMF and hearing deficit in this study. Fibrosis of the oropharynx and palatal/paratubal muscles which are affected in OSMF and theses muscles are attached to eustachian tube, the patency of the eustachian tube gets affected. As a result, patients with mainly advanced cases of OSMF should be assessed for hearing deficit.