CASE STUDY (BYU1): DESQUAMATION WEB INHIBITS HEARING AID INSERTION

Case contributed by: Richard W. Harris, Ph.D.
Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology @ Brigham Young University
Provo, UT


The adult male patient was seen with a chief complaint of an inability to insert his custom hearing aid to its normal full depth. The web of desquamation shown in the image below was found to be adherent to the walls of the antero-inferior and postero-superior surfaces of the external auditory meatus. Hearing aid canal tip pressure on the web resulted in discomfort at the desquamation points of attachment. The patient was referred for appropriate ENT medical action which solved the problem.