Fones de inser？？o: aplica？？o no colabamento de meato acústico externo

purpose: to determine the efficacy of insert earphones in cases of collapsed external auditory canals. methods: twenty-one elderly individuals with air-bone gaps greater than 10 dbhl at frequencies of 3 khz and/or 4 khz underwent anamnesis, pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, and immittance test. pure tone audiometry and speech audiometry were performed with both supra-aural and insert earphones. results: air conduction thresholds were lower with insert earphones at all frequencies except 1 khz. the magnitude of the air-bone gap was also lower with the insert earphones, and there was a air-bone coupling with this transducer. conclusion: insert earphones er-3a allowed significant improvement in air conduction hearing thresholds in elderly individuals, reducing or even eliminating the air-bone gap in cases of collapsed external auditory canals, especially at higher frequencies.