Objective tinnitus of vascular origin with hearing improvement after treatment.

Objective tinnitus occurs as a result of muscular contraction or vascular pulsations. The literature is reviewed and we present two case reports of vascular objective tinnitus and its diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. One patient was treated with embolization alone; the other, with embolization and surgical ligation. Both patients achieved an improvement in sensorineural hearing thresholds in their affected ears; one patient experienced an improvement in speech reception threshold of 30 decibels. Measures useful to diagnosis and evaluation of therapy and reasons for the observed improved hearing thresholds are discussed.