Binaural hearing in adults with histories of otitis media in childhood.

There is evidence that children with recent histories of otitis media (OM) have poorer binaural hearing than children with no such histories. In order to investigate whether these deficits persist into adulthood, young adults were selected for auditory testing on the basis of responses to a questionnaire on childhood OM. Binaural performance measures were obtained for the binaural masking level difference, binaural loudness summation and lateralisation of binaural clicks. Although subjects with OM histories reported more auditory disabilities in adulthood, there were no significant differences in binaural performance between OM history subjects and controls. It is suggested that binaural deficits resulting from OM do not usually persist into adulthood.