The effects of a canalplasty and a canal wall reconstruction on perceived sound quality: preliminary results

Objective of this work was to evaluate the perceptual effect of the acoustic properties before and after canalplasty and a reconstruction of the posterior canal wall in revision modified radical cavity surgery. This is a prospective study. Twenty normal hearing subjects were presented six simulated sound conditions representing the acoustic properties of six different ear canals (two normal ears, and two pre- and postoperative conditions). The six different real ear unaided responses of these ear canals were used to filter Dutch sentences, resulting in six simulated sound conditions. A seventh unfiltered ‘reference’ condition was used for comparison. Sound quality was evaluated using a seven-point paired comparison rating and a visual analogue scale (VAS). Significant differences in sound quality were found between all conditions and the pre-operative cavity condition (all p < 0.001) using both the paired comparison rating and VAS. No significant differences in VAS were found comparing the other conditions with each other. But when using the paired comparison rating, the post-operative canalplasty condition and both the pre and post-operative cavity conditions differed significantly from the other conditions. This explorative study shows that altering the acoustics of the OEAC after a canalplasty and a reconstruction of the ear canal in revision modified radical cavity surgery results in perceivable changes in sound quality. It is likely that these changes are primarily due to volume changes. To which extent these changes are of clinical importance remains to be determined. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00405-016-3910-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.