Assignment task: You work in a large, fast-paced ear, nose, and throat clinic with multiple physicians who have various opinions regarding the appropriate components to a test battery when conducting an audiologic evaluation. The clinic will be purchasing new equipment in the near future, and there are conflicting opinions on the significance of performing tympanometry.
State whether tympanometry is or is not important to perform during a diagnostic hearing evaluation.
Discuss each of the five types of tympanometric results, and provide specific examples as to why tympanometry was necessary with each of those results, or how other components of a diagnostic evaluation can confirm the same results without the use of tympanometry.