Long-term hearing results in patients after surgical removal of acoustic tumors with hearing preservation.

Long-term hearing results are described in 18 patients after suboccipital removal of unilateral acoustic neurinomas. Follow-up ranged from 3.4 to 10.4 years with a mean of 5.4 years. Fourteen patients (78%) experienced no significant decline in long-term hearing. Four patients (22%) experienced a significant decline in long-term hearing as defined by a drop in pure-tone average (0.5, 1, and 2 kHz), or a significant decline in Speech Discrimination Scores (SDS). Changes in hearing did not correlate with tumor size, preoperative hearing, intraoperative change in hearing, the interval between initial symptoms and surgery, sex, or age.