Larger tumor size and female gender suggest better tinnitus prognosis after surgical treatment in vestibular schwannoma patients with tinnitus.

Tinnitus is a subjective auditory phantom phenomenon which can be highly distressing. About 63%-75% vestibular schwannoma (VS) had a symptom of tinnitus. To investigate the tinnitus maintenance mechanism from the view of tinnitus change after surgical treatment in VS patients. We conducted a retrospective study of VS patients with tinnitus from August 2008 to February 2019 and did follow-ups on their changes of tinnitus after surgery. Among 298 VS cases, 201 of them had tinnitus symptom (67.4%). No statistical difference in the surgical approach was found between the tinnitus poor outcome and good outcome groups ( = .14), and statistical difference was found in gender ( = .04) and tumor size ( = .01) between the two groups. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that gender (odds ratio [OR], 2.12; 95% CI, 1.10-4.08 [ = .03]) and tumor size (OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.16-4.24 [ = .02]) emerged as a significant and independent factor associated with the good outcome of tinnitus. The results of this study confirmed that the cochlear nucleus of the brainstem and above part of the brainstem may play an important role in the maintenance of tinnitus.