The most common disorder in the ear is a middle ear infection also called otitis medial which is caused by bacterial or viral infections that can spread from the throat and affects hearing as a result of fluid build up in the middle ear.
Middle ear infections are most common in children and especially in young children although adults can also get middle ear infections.
Symptoms of an ear infection include muffled hearing, ear pain and sometimes fever.
Otologic symptoms are vertigo, tinnitus, deafness, partial hearing loss, ear pain, ear pressure, hyperacusis, a burning sensation, feeling of fullness or tightness in your ear and Disequilibrium (dizziness or imbalance.
Conditions that can cause otological symptoms include Temporomandibular disorders (TMD), Autoimmune and connective tissue disorders, Metabolic and endocrine disorders, Infection, and COVID-19.
Common otologic disorders include.
Age-Related Hearing Loss.
Auditory Neuropathy.
Auditory Processing Disorder.
Ear Infections in Children.
Enlarged Vestibular Aqueducts and Childhood Hearing Loss.
Ménière's Disease.
An Otologist specializes in the ear as well as the ears anatomy, diseases of the ear and physiology of the ear.
Otologists treat conditions of the ear like ear infections, hearing loss, dizziness, balance disorders, tumors in the ear or tumors near the ear and facial nerve disorders.
An otologist is also usually a surgeon but many ear conditions can also be treated with medical treatment without ear surgery.
Otologists may also recommend other medical procedures such as hearing aids and hearing aid evaluations and cochlear implants.
You would often see an Otologist for changes in hearing, pain or discomfort in yoru ears, vertigo and dizziness.
An Otologist differs from an ENT Doctor in that they are devoted specifically to the medical and surgical treatment of the ear and conditions affecting anatomical structures near the ear, such as hearing loss.
Some common conditions treated include: Dizziness and Tumors of the ear.
Audiologists and otolaryngologists both treat patients with hearing disorders.
However, these two professions have many differences, including their education, responsibilities and the type of patients they see.
For clogged ears the surgeon makes a tiny incision in the ear drum using a small scalpel or laser, then suctions the fluid out of the middle ear.
The doctor then inserts a small tube in the incision in the eardrum to allow fluid to drain.