Abstract
The study was designed to determine the prevalence of otitis media with effusion (OME) in Saudi children, its impact on hearing impairment and its correlation with type B tympanogram. A total of 9540 Saudi children below
15 years of age were screened during September 1994 and May 1998, Our results showed thr prevalence of OME and type B tympanogram to be 5.75% and 6.28% significantly. The frequency of both OME and type B tympanogram decreased with increasing age of the children. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.89) between OME and type B tympanogram suggesting the importance of tympanometry in the diagnosis of OME. The children exposed to OME or type B tympanogram showed significantly high rate of hearing impairment as compared to unexposed children.