[Experimental investigations of the ototoxicity of aminoglycoside antibiotics and their clinical importance (author's transl)].

The problems of the clinical evaluation of the ototoxicity of an aminoglycoside antibiotic are mentioned. The criteria for a correct performance of experimental ototoxicity tests and the applied methods concerning the functional ahd histological investigations are reported on. The results obtained by the experimental evaluation of the ototoxicity of the clinically important newer aminoglycoside antibiotics (gentamicin, tobramycin, sisomicin, dibekacin, and netilmicin) on the market are described my means of representative graphs. Possible sources of error by using the applied or other tests are discussed. An exact correlation of results obtained by neat experiments and the clinical data is found and by that also the necessity of experimental investigations as to the ototoxicity of new ototoxic drugs before their clinical trials.