Ears are organs of hearing. The purpose of examining the ears is to diagnose ear diseases and determine the hearing ability of the ears.

1. External ear examination

Inspection and palpation are often used to examine the external ear. During inspection, attention should be paid to the size and position of the animal's auricles, whether they are symmetrical, and whether there are any deformities. Healthy large animals, except cattle and sheep, which have semi-lop ears, mostly have erect ears; dogs can be divided into erect ears, semi-erect ears, lop ears, and semi-lop ears depending on the breed. Animal auricles often suffer from hematoma, ulceration or even partial mutilation due to trauma. Dogs with lop-eared and semi-lop-eared ears often suffer from ear hematoma, otitis media and otitis interna. In addition, in addition to local changes, it can be seen that the animals frequently shake their heads, rub and scratch the diseased ears. Severe otitis externa may also cause purulent discharge from the ear canal.

Palpation should pay attention to the hardness, moisture and tenderness of the animal's auricle. Inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue of the auricle results in swelling, hyperplasia, tenderness, and non-pigmented skin redness of the affected part of the animal. In cellulitis, the skin of the affected area becomes thickened, hard, or edematous. Skin edema is obvious during photosensitivity reactions, and fluctuating swelling is common in hematomas. During otitis externa, if there is exudate flowing out and the external auditory canal is pressed, a "chicking" sound can be heard.

2. Otoscopy

The animal should be fully restrained, and the reflective focus of the forehead mirror should be aimed at the opening of the external auditory canal for observation. Check the external auditory canal for swelling, thick juice, secretions, parasites, foreign bodies, etc. Observe the color and swelling of the eardrum. In otitis media, the tympanic membrane appears light yellow or light red. Dogs and cats often develop black discharge due to mite infection.

3. Listening test

The hearing test is to check the reaction of sick animals to sound. Generally, in a quiet environment, use sounds of different volumes or at different distances to observe whether the animals react. Obvious changes in an animal's hearing (such as deafness) are easy to detect, but minor impairments (such as deafness) and some impairments that are lateral or bilateral are more difficult to determine.

For animal hearing examination, first of all, it is necessary to distinguish whether the hearing impairment is caused by a disease of the auditory nerve device (inner ear) or a disease of the conductive device of the ear canal (external ear, middle ear).