Eustachian tube dysfunction in submariners and divers.

Abstract

Fifty-four recruit volunteers to the submarine and diving branches of the Royal Navy, and 35 nonvolunteers to the submarine branch who acted as control subjects, had their conditions assessed. All were unable to attain middle ear pressure equilibration when exposed to an increase in ambient pressure of 3 m H2O in the compression chamber. All the subjects suffered from the nose-ear distress syndrome, which is defined as the combination of Eustachian tube dysfunction and septal deviation in the absence of any other pathological conditions, The volunteer group were submitted to submucosal resection of the nasal septum, while the nonvolunteers were treated conservatively. Six weeks after operation 51 subjects (94.4%) who had had a submucosal resection were able to equilibrate their middle ear pressures at 10 m H2O. All the nonvolunteer group failed to equilibrate at 3 m H2O.