The contemporary forensic science more and more often makes use of lip, face and ear prints. So-called, forensic otoscopy deals with identification of humans based on ear impressions. This article presents results of 10-year Polish research project in that area. The study material encompassed 9000 ear impressions obtained from 1500 person (590 women and 910 men) aged from 15 to 60 years. From e...

Children aged six months to 10 years in one practice who were diagnosed with acute otitis media were examined one, three, six and 12 months after diagnosis by a general practitioner and an otolaryngologist on the same day using pneumatic otoscopy. Tympanometry and pure tone audimetry were also carried out. Tympanograms were combined with the specialist's otoscopy findings to determine whether e...

PRINCIPLES Detection of elevated body temperature is critical in the early diagnosis of sepsis. Due to its convenience, infrared ear temperature measurement (IETM) has become the standard of care. Unfortunately, the limitations of this method are largely unexplored. OBJECTIVE To evaluate potential limitations of IETM, including the presence of cerumen on otoscopy, depth of penetration, side o...

Because of our ability to diagnose the majority of external and middle ear conditions by otoscopy, the history is often of little additional value in reaching a diagnosis. Thus in a patient with otoscopic evidence of chronic otitis media, the object of taking a history is not to make the diagnosis but to assess the resultant disability and to plan management. Equally, if an audiogram is availab...

OBJECTIVE The study investigated whether video-otoscopic images taken by a telehealth clinic facilitator are sufficient for accurate asynchronous diagnosis by an otolaryngologist within a heterogeneous population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A within-subject comparative design was used with 61 adults recruited from patients of a primary healthcare clinic. The telehealth clinic facilitator had no for...

Objective A smartphone-enabled otoscope (SEO) can capture tympanic membrane (TM) images. We sought to compare a SEO to microscopic otoscopy in the detection and evaluation of TM pathology in an otology/neurotology practice. Study Design Prospective single-site study in adults presenting over a 3-month period. Setting Neurotology clinic within a tertiary care academic medical center. Subjects an...

We report the application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to the diagnosis and evaluation of otitis media (OM). Whereas conventional diagnostic modalities for OM, including standard and pneumatic otoscopy, are limited to visualizing the surface of the tympanic membrane (TM), OCT effectively reveals the depth-resolved microstructure below the TM with very high spatial resolution, with the ...