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A method to assess the accuracy of sonotubometry for detecting Eustachian tube openings

  • Otology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Sonotubometry is a simple test for Eustachian tube (ET) opening during a maneuver. Different sonotubometry configurations were suggested to maximize test accuracy, but no method has been described for comparing sonotubometry test results with those for a definitive measure of ET opening. Here, we present such a method and exemplify is use by an accuracy assessment of a simple sonotubometry configuration. A total of 502 data-sequences from 168 test sessions in 103 adult subjects were analyzed. For each session, subjects were seated in a pressure chamber and relative middle ear over- and under-pressures created by changing chamber pressure. At each pressure, the test sequence of bilateral tympanometry, bilateral sonotubometry while the subject swallowed twice, and bilateral tympanometry was done. Tympanometric data were expressed as the fractional gradient equilibrated (FGE) by swallowing and sonotubometric signals were analyzed to record the shape of detected sound signals. Tympanometric and sonotubometric tubal opening assignments were analyzed by cross-correlation. For the data sequences with FGE = 0 (n = 32) evidencing no tubal opening and one (n = 249) evidencing definitive tubal opening, detection of a sonotubometry sound signal during a swallow had a sensitivity and specificity of 74.2 and 65.6 % for identifying ET openings and an accuracy of 73.3 % for assigning ET opening/non-opening by swallowing. Measures of sound signal shape were significantly different between those groups. This protocol allows a sonotubometry accuracy assessment for detecting ET openings. For the test configuration used, accuracy was moderate, but this should improve as more sophisticated sonotubometry test configurations are evaluated.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by a Grant from the National Institutes of Health (P50 DC007667), and by the Hamburg and Eberly Endowments to the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh. These sources provided funding for the study but did not have input into the study design or the analyses and interpretation of the data.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors has a real or potential conflict of interest to declare regarding the materials presented in this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    J. Douglas Swarts, Miriam S. Teixeira, Juliane Banks, Jenna El-Wagaa & William J. Doyle

  2. 3420 5th Ave, Oakland Medical Bldg, Room 118, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    J. Douglas Swarts

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  1. J. Douglas Swarts
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  2. Miriam S. Teixeira
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  3. Juliane Banks
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  4. Jenna El-Wagaa
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  5. William J. Doyle
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Correspondence to J. Douglas Swarts.

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Swarts, J.D., Teixeira, M.S., Banks, J. et al. A method to assess the accuracy of sonotubometry for detecting Eustachian tube openings. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 272, 2111–2119 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-3031-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-3031-5

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