Tympanoplasty is a surgical procedure to close a hole in the ear drum—typically this is a large hole that is too big to be amenable to Myringoplasty.
Multiple techinques exist to accomplish this, but most commonly, it involves an incision in the crease behind the ear and placement of a graft of fascia (harvested from scalp muscles exposed by the incision) to cover the hole in the ear drum.
The expectation is that the fascia graft will become part of the ear drum and thus seal the hole.
This procedure is more involved than Myringoplasty, takes longer, but allows closure of much larger perforations.
Occasionally, this surgery also involves work on one or more of the three bones that connect the ear drum sonically to the inner ear.
