Diagnosis and management strategies in congenital atresia of the external auditory canal

This consensus report represents a distillation of current opinion regarding diagnosis and management of congenital aural atresia. It also takes into account the philosophical differences which exist in Europe. Congenital aural atresia requires prompt diagnosis, genetic counselling and an early assessment of hearing. In bilateral atresia, early amplification with a bone conduction hearing aid is essential for proper speech development. Further rehabilitation in bilateral cases is managed with surgical reconstruction in selected patients or by implantation of a bone-anchored hearing aid. Atresia repair surgery is worthwhile if proper patient selection is made by use of stringent audiological and radiological criteria and state of the art surgery is performed. The divergent views concerning indications, ideal age for surgery and surgical approach to achieve better hearing are discussed. Review of the literature demonstrated that even in the hands of the best surgeons a mean hearing gain of only 20-25 dB is achieved in atresia Type II, with 30-35 dB in Type I. Therefore, surgical reconstruction should only be done in the more favourable cases where post-operative hearing of < 25-30 dB is attainable. Less favoured patients should be helped with bone-anchored hearing aids, as this type of surgery does not interfere with the future use of new techniques.