Profile of hearing in patients with unilateral acoustic neuromas: The importance of the contralateral ear

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe hearing in patients with a unilateral acoustic neuroma in relation to the sort and duration of sympto ms. Study Design: The study design was a retrospective clinical study. Setting: The study was conducted at a tertiary referral center. Patients: A total of 171 patients with a unilateral acoustic neuroma partic ipated. Intervention: Diagnostic measures were performed. Main Outcome Measures: The subjective experience of symptoms, a number of a udiometric parameters of the affected and the contralateral side, tumor siz e, and their mutual relations were measured. Results: No significant correlation was found between tumor size and audiom etric parameters, Significant correlations could be shown between the durat ion of hearing loss and thresholds in the pure-tone audiogram. the speech r eception threshold, and the maximum discrimination in the speech audiogram. Thresholds in the pure-tone audiogram of the contralateral ear were signif icantly worse than those of the international standard. A significant diffe rence in age between men and women with unilateral acoustic neuromas was fo und. Conclusions: Hearing is not worse in patients with larger tumors. The longe r the duration of subjective hearing loss. the more severe is hearing impai rment. The hearing loss of the contralateral ear might be responsible For t he composition of the category of patients in whom an acoustic neuroma is d iagnosed effectively. Presumably, demographic features result in an age dif ference between male and female patients.