Mediterr J Otol 2006:2(1): 41-46

Invited Review: The prehistory of audiology and otology

Anestis Psifidis  

Otolaryngology Department of Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece  apsifidi@auth.gr

 Audiology and otology have developed over time through numerous experts who have contributed to the knowledge of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the ear. Although it seems very difficult, if not impossible, to include all the expert physicians and scientists who contributed to the progress of audiology and otology, it might be interesting to review how this knowledge came to us from the earliest times of the human civilization.

Even today we cannot avoid reminders of those who have aided in the progress of medical science. The conference on audiology and otology jointly hosted by the International Association of Physicians in Audiology and the Mediterranean Society of Otology and Audiology was held in June 2004, near the small town of  Stagira, the birthplace of the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, a follower of Hippocratic medicine. In September of the same year, the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies Congress on Otolaryngology opened its program with a ceremonial presentation of the Hippocratic oath. That ceremony took place on the island of Cos, the birthplace of Hippocrates, who has been called “the Father of Medicine.” It might be interesting to discover how the knowledge of medicine in general and of otology and audiology, particularly, developed through time. Some 4000 years have passed from the epoch of Sumerian cuneiform medical texts till the present-day electronic retrieval of medical information and Internet medicine.