Congenital aural atresia occurs in one in every 10,000 births in the USA. Unilateral atresia is six times more common than bilateral atresia. Aural atresia is associated with a recognizable syn-drome in about 10% of cases. In about 5% of non-syndromatic cases, the birth defect is inher-ited! We can define atresia as a congenital malformation, ie, characterized by an abnormal devel-opment of bone that fills the space of a normal external auditory meatus. Very often, this abnormality includes an ossicular chain malformation where the ossicles are