PrefaceHearing loss due to otosclerosis has been a subject of many different treatments. Since the understanding at the end of the nineteenth century that the disease was located in and around the cochlea and that it produces conducting and also perceptive hearing loss, all kinds of medical as well as surgical treatments have been applied to cure the disease. Most of the treatments have fallen into oblivion after the successful introduction of the stapedectomy in the late fifties of the last century. This book tries to highlight almost all possible treatments for otosclerosis presented in literature over the last hundred years. With the knowledge of today, many of the otosclerosis treatments of the past now seem absurd, but in reality generations of otosclerotic patients have been treated according to these treatments. The history of these treatments for otosclerosis shows the struggle of many well-meaning physicians and surgical ear pioneers to overcome the tragedy of the progression of the often genetic hearing loss due to otosclerosis. For those who are involved in the treatment of otosclerosis today, this historical overview will deepen the background of this specific ear disease and its forgotten treatments.
