The commonest cause for progressive hearing loss in early and middle adult life is a disease of the hard shell of bone that surrounds the labyrinth of the inner ear. This disease of bone is known as otosclerosis, a name that is misleading, for in its early and actively expanding stage the nodule of diseased bone is softer than the ivory-hard bone that it replaces. The more appropriate name otospongiosis is sometimes used, but such is the tenacity of tradition that the older name, applied before the process was well understood, has persisted and is the term generally used.

The cause for the occurrence of the nodule of softened otosclerotic bone is unknown. There is a certain familial tendency, half the cases occurring in families in which one or several relatives have the same condition. It is one-tenth as common among blacks as among whites and twice as common in women as in men. The nodule of softened otosclerotic bone first appears in late childhood or in early adult life. Fortunately, in most cases it remains quite small and harmless, producing no symptoms, and is discoverable only if the ear bones are removed after death and examined under a microscope. Such evidence indicates that approximately 1 in 10 white adult men and 1 in 5 white adult women will be found to have such a nodule of otosclerotic bone by middle adult life.

In about 12 percent of otosclerosis cases the nodule of softened bone becomes large enough to reach the oval window containing the footplate of the stapes (stirrup). Increasing pressure caused by the expanding nodule begins to impede its vibratory movements in response to sound striking the tympanic membrane. Gradually and insidiously, affected persons begin to lose their sharpness of hearing. First they begin to lose the ability to hear faint sounds of low pitch, next they begin to have difficulty hearing the whispered voice, then they have difficulty in hearing conversation from a distance, and finally they can hear and understand the spoken voice only when it is quite loud or close to the ear. One of the characteristics of impaired hearing due to stirrup fixation by otosclerosis is retained ability to hear a telephone conversation by pressing the receiver against the head so that the sound is carried to the inner ear by bone conduction. Another characteristic of this type of impaired hearing is that hearing seems to improve while one is riding in an automobile, in a plane, or on a train. This is because the low-pitched roar of motors causes persons with normal hearing to unconsciously raise their voices, while the individual with stirrup fixation fails to hear the low-pitched roar and thus hears better and enjoys the raised voices around him.

The diagnosis of stirrup fixation by otosclerosis is made on the basis of a history of a gradually increasing impairment of hearing with absence of any chronic infection of the middle ear or of perforation of the tympanic membrane and with hearing tests showing that the auditory nerve in the inner ear is functioning but that sound fails to be conducted properly to it. Hearing tests carried out with either a tuning fork or an audiometer demonstrate that the hearing by bone conduction is better than by air conduction.

The final and conclusive diagnosis of otosclerosis is a finding made through surgical exploration—namely, that the stapes is fixed and unable to be moved because of a nodule of bone that has grown against it. An X ray of the ear using computed tomography may be made to demonstrate that the footplate of the stapes has been invaded by otosclerosis.

Fixation of the stapes can be corrected surgically. In 1956 it was found that the fixed stapes could be removed and replaced by a plastic or wire substitute in cases in which it could not be mobilized. Today this operation, known as stapedectomy, is the one most often used to correct fixation of the stapes by otosclerosis.

The otosclerotic bone disease in some cases expands as far as the cochlea of the inner ear, causing a gradual deterioration of the auditory nerve. This progressive nerve deafness may precede, accompany, or follow fixation of the stapes. In some cases it may occur without fixation of the stapes.

While the exact cause of otosclerosis is not known, it may be associated in some cases with lack of fluoride in drinking water. There is evidence that increasing the intake of fluoride may promote hardening of the softened nodule of otosclerotic bone, thus arresting or retarding its expansion. In this way the gradual impairment of auditory nerve function that often occurs with fixation of the stapes may be retarded. Fluoridation of water supplies, which is carried out in many countries, has reduced the incidence of otosclerosis.