Figure 2. (A) Size of tympanostomy tube compared to a dime, (B) Tympanostomy tube
Table 1. Abbreviations and Definitions of Common Terms
(continued)
Term Definition
Hearing assessment A means of gathering information about a child's hearing status,
which may include caregiver report, audiologic assessment by
an audiologist, or hearing testing by a physician or allied health
professional using screening or standard equipment, which may be
automated or manual. Does not include the use of noisemakers or
other nonstandardized methods
Acute otitis media
(AOM)
e rapid onset of signs and symptoms of inflammation of the
middle ear
Persistent AOM Persistence of symptoms or signs of AOM during antimicrobial
therapy (treatment failure) and/or relapse of AOM within 1 month
of completing antibiotic therapy. When 2 episodes of otitis media
occur within 1 month, it may be difficult to distinguish recurrence
of AOM (ie, a new episode) from persistent otitis media (ie,
relapse)
Recurrent AOM ree or more well-documented and separate AOM episodes in the
past 6 months or at least 4 well-documented and separate AOM
episodes in the past 12 months with at least 1 in the past 6 months
Middle ear effusion
(MEE)
Fluid in the middle ear from any cause but most oen from OME
and during, or aer, an episode of AOM
Conductive hearing loss
(CHL)
Hearing loss, from abnormal or impaired sound transmission to the
inner ear, which is oen associated with effusion in the middle ear
Sensorineural hearing
loss (SNHL)
Hearing loss that results from abnormal transmission of sound
from the sensory cells of the inner ear to the brain
Tympanostomy tube
otorrhea (TTO)
Discharge from the middle ear through the tube, usually caused
by AOM or external contamination of the middle ear from water
entry (swimming, bathing, or hair washing )
Retraction pocket A collapsed area of the tympanic membrane into the middle ear or
attic with a sharp demarcation from the remainder of the tympanic
membrane
Tympanogram An objective measure of how easily the tympanic membrane
vibrates and at what pressure it does so most easily (pressure-
compliance function). If the middle ear is filled with fluid (eg,
OME), vibration is impaired and the line will be flat. If the middle
ear is filled with air but at a higher or lower pressure than the
surrounding atmosphere, the peak on the graph will be shied in
position based on the pressure (to the le if negative, to the right if
positive)
