Neuro-otological findings in tinnitus patients with normal hearing

INTRODUCTION: Tinnitus is usually associated with hearing loss, and patients with tinnitus and normal hearing are unusual. Neuro-otological findings have not previously been described in tinnitus patients with normal hearing. AIM: To analyse neuro-otological examination results from a group of tinnitus patients with normal hearing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventeen normal-hearing tinnitus patients seen over a 10-year period were retrospectively evaluated. Their results were compared with those of a control group of 17 normal subjects without tinnitus. RESULTS: The main neuro-otological finding in the tinnitus patients was caloric test abnormality: a unilateral canal paresis was present in 15 of the 17 patients. Caloric tests were normal in 15 of the 17 control subjects. CONCLUSION: We may infer from these results that tinnitus could be the only clinical manifestation of a cochlear - and presumably cochleo-vestibular - lesion, and that unilateral canal paresis may be the only abnormal finding on neuro-otological examination.