This is the fourth edition of this book, which in itself is an endorsement. It is written for a fairly broad audience, and the language is extremely ‘readable’. It is also aimed at those without an extensive medical vocabulary. The first few chapters review the physics of sound, the anatomy of the ear and the physiology of hearing. The following chapters review the principles and techniques of measuring hearing, then present a discussion of basic audiology and more specialised hearing tests.
Several chapters discuss the causes of conductive and sensory neural hearing loss. These include a chapter on sudden sensory neural hearing loss and the controversies regarding its management. There are sections on occupational hearing loss, hearing loss in children and hearing protection devices. The final clinical section includes medical conditions such as dizziness, facial paralysis and squamous cell carcinoma of the temporal bone. There are four appendices discussing normal ear anatomy and medical conditions of the ear.
This book is written in an extremely readable form. Some of the sections on anatomy and medical conditions will be too basic for a medical graduate.
The strength of this book lies in how well it covers the basics. The sections on the physics of sound, principles of audiology and more specialised tests (such as evoked response audiograms and otoacoustic emissions) cover the general principles very well. The applications of these tests are explained with clinical examples. The authors give an expert insight into the strengths and pitfalls of the tests.
I feel that this book will be invaluable for the new breed of trainees who wish to pursue a career in ENT but have had little or no exposure to the specialty. It could also be dipped into by trainees preparing for their exit exams or by specialists wishing to brush up on a specific aspect of hearing loss or audiometric testing. As would be expected, this book has a significant North American bias, especially in the sections on occupational hearing loss.
