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Impact of ear protection on occurrence of exostosis in surfers: an observational prospective study of 242 ears

  • Otology
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the study was to investigate the efficacy of ear protection (earplug and surf hood) in preventing the development of external auditory exostosis (EAE) in surfers.

Methods

We performed a prospective observational study. Volunteer surfers were recruited from June 2016 to October 2017 on the Brittany coast in France. Each participant filled in a questionnaire and underwent otoscopic digitalized photography to establish the degree of external ear obstruction by two different practitioners. The correlation between the percentage of external ear obstruction and the time spent in water with or without protection was evaluated. Risk factors of EAE were assessed.

Results

Two hundred and forty-two ears were analysed. The incidence of EAE was 89.96% with an average rate of obstruction of 37.65%. Risk factors for EAE were male sex (p = 0.0005), number of years practicing surf (p < 0.0001) and symptoms of ear obstruction (p = 0.0358). A significant correlation was found between EAE severity and number of hours spent in water without any protection (earplugs or surf hood) (p < 0.0001). No correlation was found between EAE severity and time spent in water with earplugs (p = 0.6711) but a correlation was identified between obstruction and time spent in water with surf hood (p = 0.0358).

Conclusions

Wearing earplugs is an effective way to prevent EAE in surfers unlike surf hood.

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Funding

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Author notes

  1. Lambert Cassandre and Marin Simon should be considered joint first author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rennes University Hospital, Pontchaillou, 2 rue Henri le Guilloux, 35000, Rennes, France

    Cassandre Lambert & Benoit Godey

  2. Department of General Medicine, Rennes University Hospital, Pontchaillou, Rennes, France

    Simon Marin

  3. Departments of Clinical Pharmacology and Biology, Rennes University Hospital, Pontchaillou, Rennes, France

    Maxime Esvan

  4. Faculté de Médecine de Rennes, University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France

    Cassandre Lambert, Simon Marin, Maxime Esvan & Benoit Godey

Authors
  1. Cassandre Lambert
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  2. Simon Marin
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  3. Maxime Esvan
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  4. Benoit Godey
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cassandre Lambert.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare for this publication.

Data sharing

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethical considerations

The ethics committee of the CHU de Rennes considers that this research project does not contravene medical ethics. This opinion number 20.36 of the local ethics committee was issued unanimously by the members present.

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Lambert, C., Marin, S., Esvan, M. et al. Impact of ear protection on occurrence of exostosis in surfers: an observational prospective study of 242 ears. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 278, 4775–4781 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-06609-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-06609-8

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