The Long-term Prognosis of Residual Tinnitus with Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Objectives：To analyze the factors affecting the long-term prognosis of tinnitus accompanied with unilateral idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Design：A cohort study. Setting：Academic hospital. Participants：A total of 161 patients with sudden hearing loss accompanied by tinnitus were enrolled. All the patients had two separate telephone follow-ups and were asked about changes in tinnitus. Main outcome measures：The severity of tinnitus at admission and the outcome at discharge were assessed in terms of the patients’ sex, age, level of hearing loss, type of audiogram, and so on. Results and Conclusions：Initial tinnitus level was remarkably associated with tinnitus efficacy at discharge and was an independent risk factor for the long-term prognosis of residual tinnitus after SSNHL (odds ratio 0.722, 95% confidence interval 0.550-0.949, p = 0.019), and the median recovery time was 23.00 ± 3.80 months.