Background. The incidence of hearing loss is constantly increasing and according to the World Health Organization, by 2050, 900 million people will suffer from hearing loss. The main Objective of the study was to determine the differences between the severity of the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression in participants with varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. An additional aim was to examine the extent and manner in which protective face masks impact the communication of people with hearing loss. Matrials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, which included 160 patients (81 men and 79 women) with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. The patients’ age range was 50 to 80 years. Depending on the degree of hearing loss or pure-tone threshold, the participants were divided into four groups: mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss and profound hearing loss. The research used the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and a questionnaire in which the participants reported whether surgical face masks (medical three-layer masks) worn by speakers makes communication difficult, to what extent and in what way. Results: The average age of the patients was 67.97 ± 8.16. A significant correlation was found between the degree of hearing loss and communication difficulties caused by the use of protective face masks (p < 0.001). For patients with severe and profound hearing loss, communication is significantly more difficult (50.0% and 45.0% respectively) when the interlocutor wears a face mask. There is a significant correlation between the degree of hearing loss and the way in which communication is made more difficult when the interlocutor wears a face mask (p < 0.001). A statistically significant difference was determined between the degrees of hearing loss in all measured subscales: stress (p = 0.024), anxiety (p = 0.026) and depression (p = 0.016). Conclusions: We have determined that face masks used during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly hamper communication among the study groups (p = 0.007) and there is a significant correlation between the degree of sensorineural hearing loss and the presence of symptoms in all three DASS-21 subscales, meaning that the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression were more intense in severe and profound hearing loss.

Background and Objectives: The ARNE score was developed for the prediction of a difficult airway for both general and ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery with a universal cut-off value. We tested the accuracy of this score in the case of laryngeal surgery and provided an insight into its effects in combination with flexible laryngoscopy. Materials and Methods: This prospective pilot clinical study included 100 patients who were being scheduled for microscopic laryngeal surgery. We calculated the ARNE score for every patient, and flexible laryngoscopy was provided preoperative. Difficult intubation was assessed according to the intubation difficulty score (IDS). Results: A total of 33% patients had difficult intubation according to the IDS. The ARNE score showed limited accuracy for the prediction of difficult intubation in laryngology with p < 0.0001 and an AUC of 0.784. Flexible laryngoscopy also showed limitations when used as an independent parameter with p < 0.0001 and an AUC of 0.766. We defined a new cut-off value of 15.50 for laryngology, according to the AUC. After the patients were divided into two groups, according to the new cut-off value and provided cut-off value, the AUC improved to 0.707 from 0.619, respectively. Flexible laryngoscopy improved the prediction model of the ARNE score to an AUC of 0.882 and of the new cut-off value to an AUC of 0.833. Conclusions: It is recommended to use flexible laryngoscopy together with the ARNE score in difficult airway prediction in patients with laryngeal pathology. Also, the universally recommended cut-off value of 11 cannot be effectively used in laryngology, and a new cut-off value of 15.50 is recommended.

Objective: To review the audiological results of patients surgically treated for cholesteatoma. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study of patients operated for acquired middle ear cholesteatoma during the period 1990–2002 was performed. A total of 758 patients were followed in the...

Background and Objectives: ARNE score was developed for the prediction of difficult airway for both general and ENT surgery with a universal cut-off value. We tested the accuracy of this score in the case of laryngeal surgery and provided an insight of its combination with flexible laryngoscopy. Materials and Methods: This prospective pilot clinical study included 100 patients who were being scheduled for microscopic laryngeal surgery. We have calculated ARNE score for every patient and flexible laryngoscopy was provided preoperative. Difficult intubation was assessed according to intubation difficulty score (IDS). Results: A total of 33% patients had difficult intubation according to IDS. ARNE score showed to be accurate for prediction of difficult intubation in laryngology with P<0.0001 and AUC 0.784. Flexible laryngoscopy showed to be an independent parameter with P<0.0001 and AUC 0.766. We have defined a new cut-off value of 15.50 for laryngology, according to AUC curve. After the patients were divided in two groups, according to the new cut-off value and provided cut-off value, AUC improved to 0.707 from 0.619 respectively. Flexible laryngoscopy improved the prediction model of ARNE score to AUC 0.882 and of new cut-off value to AUC 0.833. Conclusions: It is recommended to use flexible laryngoscopy together with ARNE score in difficult airway prediction in patients with laryngeal pathology. Also, universally recommended cut-off value of 11 can not be effectively used in laryngology and a new cut-off value of 15.50 is recommended.