ELIMINATION OF TINNITUS FOLLOWING HEARING PRESERVATION SURGERY FOR ACOUSTIC NEUROMAS

Fifty-one consecutive patients undergoing hearing preservation surgery for acoustic neuromas were evaluated with regard to tinnitus and leve l of hearing. In 25 patients, hearing was not preserved. In this group , postoperative tinnitus was present in 8 of 13 patients who noted thi s symptom preoperatively. Four of the remaining 12 patients developed tinnitus following surgery. In 26 patients, useful hearing was preserv ed (speech reception threshold < 50 dB, speech discrimination score >6 0%). Although 10 patients in this group complained of tinnitus preoper atively, only 4 patients noted it following surgery. None of the 16 re maining patients in this group developed tinnitus postoperatively. Ove rall, only 50% (12/23) of patients who had tinnitus preoperatively com plained of it postoperatively, and only 8% (4/51) developed tinnitus a s a result of surgery. Our results show that new-onset tinnitus is unc ommon following hearing preservation surgery for acoustic neuroma and that it can be reduced or eliminated following surgery, especially if useful hearing is preserved.