Otitis media
How the auditory tube keeps the middle ear ventilated, why it fails during colds (especially in young children), how trapped fluid becomes infected and painful, and why lingering fluid muffles hearing.
By the end, you can
- Describe the middle ear, the ossicles and the role of the auditory (Eustachian) tube.
- Explain why young children are especially prone to tube dysfunction and middle ear infection.
- Relate ear pain, fever and a bulging eardrum to pus under pressure.
- Explain why fluid in the middle ear causes conductive hearing loss.
- Describe how infection can spread to the mastoid and beyond.
- Recognise the otoscopic appearances, cholesteatoma, classifications and hearing tests of otitis media, and explain how antibiotics, grommets and surgery act on its mechanism.
What it is
Otitis media is inflammation of the middle ear. Acute otitis media is a rapid-onset infection with pus behind the eardrum, causing pain and often fever. Otitis media with effusion (glue ear) is fluid in the middle ear without signs of acute infection, which muffles hearing. Both are most common in young children.
3 types to tell apart
- Acute otitis media
- Infection with pus behind a red, bulging eardrum; pain and fever; may perforate.
- Otitis media with effusion (glue ear)
- Persistent fluid without acute infection; painless; conductive hearing loss.
- Chronic suppurative otitis media
- A persistent perforation with recurrent discharge.
Normal function
An air-filled middle ear
Sound vibrates the (eardrum). A chain of three ossicles, the , and , carries the vibration across the air-filled to the inner ear, concentrating the force onto the small oval window.
The ossicles vibrate freely only if the cavity contains air at the same pressure as outside. The connects the middle ear to the nasopharynx. It opens briefly when we swallow or yawn, equalising pressure, and lets mucus drain from the middle ear.
The middle ear is lined with respiratory-type mucosa, continuous through the tube with the nose and throat, and connects behind with air cells in the mastoid part of the temporal bone.
Underlying change · Step 1 of 4
The auditory tube fails
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Disrupted function · Step 2 of 4
Pus under pressure
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Disrupted function · Step 3 of 4
Fluid muffles hearing
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Consequences · Step 4 of 4
When infection spreads
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Symptoms and signs
Symptoms, signs and findings
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Exam detail
Exam detail
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Treatment
How treatment works
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Recap
Recap
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .
Self-check
Check your understanding
The full lesson is part of Student Pro
It takes you through all 4 steps of the mechanism, explains the symptoms, signs and findings each step causes, adds the exam detail and how treatment works where the lesson has them, then recaps it and lets you check yourself with 10 self-check questions. The full pathophysiology library: guided lessons with self-check questions comes with Student Pro, with 100 tutor answers a month and the full available catalogue.
Free to read: the introduction and .