This year, March 3 is the 17th “Ear Care Day” in China, and the theme of the national “Ear Care Day” publicity and education campaign is “Concern for Children’s Hearing Health”. Perhaps you, who are concerned about hearing health today, do not necessarily know that the nasopharynx, deep in our nose, is also closely related to our hearing. Our nasopharynx also has a relationship with hearing? This is something that some of you may not have thought about. Let’s first look at the anatomy of the nasopharynx: the following diagram shows the anatomical pattern of the nasopharynx: on the lateral wall of the nasopharynx, directly behind the inferior turbinate, there is an eustachian tube pharynx, which is the part circled in green in the picture above, and although this part looks insignificant, it has an important function and is crucial to maintaining our normal hearing! As we know, the vibration of the eardrum is the first step for the body to hear sound. For the eardrum to vibrate properly, the air pressure on both sides of the eardrum must be kept equal. The outer part of the eardrum is the external ear canal, which is connected to the outside world, while the inner part of the eardrum is connected to the outside world through the eustachian tube, which maintains the same air pressure on both sides of the eardrum. The eustachian tube connects the tympanic chamber to the nasopharynx, which connects the air inside the tympanic chamber to the atmosphere, and thus through the eustachian tube, the potential pressure difference between the air inside the tympanic chamber and the atmospheric pressure can be balanced, which is important for maintaining the normal position, shape and vibratory properties of the tympanic membrane. It is easy to see from this model diagram below that when the eustachian tube is obstructed, the gas in the tympanic chamber will be absorbed, causing the pressure in the tympanic chamber to drop, causing the tympanic membrane to become invaginated and fluid to accumulate in the tympanic chamber, resulting in secretory otitis media, which further leads to hearing loss in patients, which is classified as conductive deafness. A variety of cumulative to nasopharyngeal diseases may lead to obstruction of the eustachian tube opening, such as adenoid hypertrophy, posterior nostril polyps, chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, and it should be especially reminded that one of the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer includes unilateral recurrent secretory otitis media. Therefore, we need to remind our patients not to neglect the nasopharyngeal examination for recurrent conductive deafness and secretory otitis media.