Tympanometric measures in older adults.

Abstract

Tympanometric measures were obtained in 1240 adults (2147 ears) ranging in age from 48 to 90 years. All subjects reported a negative history of otic disease, passed an otoscopic examination, and did not present a significant air-bone gap based on pure-tone audiometry. Relative to findings for younger adults, tympanometric measures for older adults in the present study showed greater variability, a slightly lower mean peak compensated static acoustic admittance (peak Ytm), and a significantly higher mean equivalent ear-canal volume (Vea). Across age in the present study, Vea tended to decrease with age and tympanogram width (TW) tended to increase with age. Relative to measures for females, males in the present study tended to have higher peak Ytm values, higher Vea values, and slightly lower TW values. Overall, our findings indicate a need to adopt criteria that account for age and gender effects in tympanometry protocols for older adults.