She describes improved sound quality and better hearing at a distance and when background noise is present. These observations have been confirmed by her parents and classroom teachers. Conclusion All children with congenital aural atresia need to undergo complete audiologic testing during infancy. Early intervention with appropriate amplification for any child with bilateral hearing loss is necessary to insure normal speech and language development. Parents and their child s primary care physician also need to be aware that otitis media and its complications can occur in the child s atretic ear.
Surgical management can help to improve the hearing of some patients with aural atresia.
In other patients, surgical intervention may be required to treat complications of otitis media or cholesteatoma. The risk of cholesteatoma in congenital aural stenosis. Case history data on unilaterally hearing-impaired children. Grading system for the selection of patients with congenital aural atresia. All rights reserved.