Effect of palatoplasty on hearing ability of nonsyndromic cleft palate patients: A prospective clinical study

Abstract

Introduction: Cleft palate patients suffer from many comorbidities, otitis media with effusion being one of them. There is a universal consensus regarding the presence of hearing impairment in such patients. However, there are different schools of thought regarding the effect of palatal repair on hearing ability. Hence, this study was conducted to find out the effect of palatoplasty on hearing ability of children with cleft palate. Patients and Methods: Seventy-five patients with cleft palate underwent palatoplasty and were subjected to otoscopy and brainstem evoked response audiometry, preoperatively, 1 month postoperatively and 6 months postoperatively. The otoscopy and audiometry findings were statistically analyzed using Chi-square test and students unpaired t-test. Results: Ninety-two percent of patients had hearing impairment with majority of them belonging to age group <3 years. The study showed a male preponderance. Statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the preoperative and 1 month postoperative outcomes of otoscopy and audiometry. However, the values show a statistically significant improvement 6 months postoperatively. Conclusion: There is a marked association between hearing impairment and cleft palate. Moreover, this impaired hearing improves after palatoplasty in due course of time.

Keywords

• brainstem evoked response audiometry
• cleft palate
• eustachian tube
• hearing impairment
• otoscopy