[Exostoses of the external auditory canal in professional diving. A case for the German Social Accident Insurance Institution].

Exostoses of the external auditory canal are often diagnosed incidentally but may also cause complications, e.g., conductive hearing loss and/or recurrent inflammations of the external ear canal due to stenosis. This paper presents current scientific data on the pathogenesis of ear canal exostoses, which obviously focus on the cold water hypothesis. We present a case of an expert opinion on occupational illness and discuss whether the legal preconditions for recognition "like an occupational disease" according to article 9(2) Social Code Book VII are met. A systematic reporting of suspected cases is recommended in order to obtain reliable data on the epidemiology and the clinical course of external auditory exostoses among individuals occupationally exposed to cold water and to enter an expert discussion on the reasonability of an inclusion in the list of occupational diseases.