Subjective evaluation of post-tympanoplasty hearing in relation to the pure tone threshold

Objective: In the year 2000, the Otological Society of Japan proposed a new criteria to assess the levels of hearing known as Criteria 2000. However, these criteria are intended to assess pure tone threshold after tympanoplasty and the results do not necessarily reflect the hearing condition from the patient’s perspective. Thus, it is essential to study the relationship between the subjective evaluation of post-operative hearing based on the patient’s own assessment and the objective assessment by audiometry. Methods: The present study is a questionnaire-based survey on the levels of post-operative hearing in 460 patients whose degree of satisfaction with their levels of hearing was assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS). The hearing level was assessed based on the Criteria 2000 established by the Otological Society of Japan. Results: The post-operative results indicated a success rate of 78.7%. According to the questionnaire-based survey, 64.4% patients considered their hearing as “improved”. The average VAS score was the highest in the “improved” group and gradually decreased when in the “deteriorated” group. The highest success rate was obtained in patients who assessed their hearing as “improved” and the lowest rate was seen in those who assessed their hearing as “deteriorated”. On the other hand, the success rate in the three groups, “slightly improved”, “unchanged”, and “slightly deteriorated”, was almost similar and did not relate to the objective audiometry findings. Therefore, except for the “improved” and deteriorated” groups, there is no relation between the subjective self-assessment and the objective post-operative hearing. Conclusion: A bi-directional approach, one from an audiological (objective) and one from the patient’s perspective (subjective), especially using VAS, is quite useful for the post-operative assessment of hearing.