Statistics in Otology

Abstract

Although the use of statistics in medicine is not new, it would appear to be inadequate or too exclusive as yet. Following some work carried out at the Lyons Institute of Audiophonology under the direction of Professor P. Mounier-Kuhn, we should like to consider this problem for a few moments. We have purposely juxtaposed three entirely dissimilar enquiries. Three surveys in otology will serve as examples for our demonstration. The first is a study of presbyacusis using 600 patients of more than 65 years of age. The second is devoted to the effects of professional traumatism of the ear on patients suffering from an infection of the middle ear; the analysis is based on 556 cases, including cases of professional deafness which served as control groups. The third survey is concerned with audiometric observation of medically treated perceptive deafness; the number of cases is doubled to 96 if each ear is considered separately.