What is barotrauma mean?

Barotrauma means injury to your body because of changes in barometric (air) or water pressure. One common type happens to your ear. A change in altitude may cause your ears to hurt. This can happen if you are flying in an airplane, driving in the mountains, or scuba diving.

What type of hearing loss is barotrauma?

Ear barotrauma is a type of ear damage. It is caused by pressure differences between the inside of the ear and the outside of the ear. It can cause pain and sometimes lifelong (permanent) hearing loss. The middle ear is an air-filled space between the inner and outer parts of the ear.

What does teed barotrauma mean?

Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) and middle ear barotrauma (MEBT) remain the two most common complications of SCUBA diving, commercial diving, and clinical hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBO).

What is barotrauma diving?

Barotrauma is the most common medical problem in scuba diving and can involve any structure that leads to entrapment of gas in a closed space. If a diver does not equalize pressure in gas-filled body spaces during descent, these spaces will decrease in volume in accordance with Boyle’s law.

What is barotrauma caused by?

Barotrauma of descent is caused by a lack of pressure equalization in closed spaces in contact with the diver, typically the ear, teeth, sinuses, and face mask. The resulting pressure difference between the tissues and the gas space causes injury.

Is barotrauma conductive hearing loss?

Barotrauma and Perilymphatic Fistula These symptoms can be followed by the development of a hemotympanum or a transudative middle ear effusion, and conductive hearing loss may result.

At what depth does barotrauma occur?

Pulmonary barotrauma can even happen in a pool when air is breathed in at depths 3 to 4 feet below the surface (such as from an inverted bucket carried underwater or when scuba gear is being tested there) and not exhaled during ascent.

What causes barotrauma to occur?

Barotrauma is a condition in which the alveoli (air sacs of the lungs) rupture with a subsequent entry of air into the surrounding extra alveolar space. Barotrauma is typically caused by lung air sacs rupturing or a direct injury.

Can barotrauma causing sensorineural hearing loss?

Very severe and sudden pressure differences may rupture the TM, causing bleeding in the middle ear with severe earache and conductive hearing loss. A perilymphatic fistula through the oval or round windows can occur, causing sensorineural hearing loss and vertigo.