Objective: To clarify the long-term characteristics of
tinnitus following treatment of
sudden deafness and its long-term physical and mental effects on patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 88 patients (46 males and 42 females; Age from 11 to 89 years) with
sudden deafness treated in Department of
Otoscope Surgery of Peoples's Libration Army General Hospital in Beijing from April 2020 to January 2021, and the occurrence of
tinnitus and treatment effect of all patients were analyzed. Follow-up was conducted for patients with residual
tinnitus after treatment for more than 1 year by the investigation and filling in the survey information collection form,
Tinnitus Evaluation Questionnaire (TEQ) and
Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). Descriptive statistics and SPSS 22.0 software were used for statistical data analysis. Results: In this study, 93.2% (82/88) of patients with
sudden deafness were accompanied by
tinnitus at the onset, and the proportion of long-term
tinnitus after treatment was 90.2% (74/82). After 1 year of treatment for
sudden deafness, the improvement of
tinnitus was significant in low-frequency
sudden deafness compared with those of high-frequency, flat and total
deafness sudden deafness (χ2 value was 6.801, 4.568 and 4.038, all P<0.05). In patients with residual
tinnitus, 9 (12.2%) patients felt minimal loudness or even no loudness, 34 (46.0%) patients felt slight loudness, 28 (37.8%) patients felt
tinnitus was relatively loud, and 3 (4.1%) patients felt
tinnitus was loud or noisy. Nine (12.2%) patients's sleep was often affected, 41 (55.4%) patients's sleep was sometimes affected, 9 (12.2%) patients's sleep was rarely affected, 15 (20.3%) patients's sleep was almost not affected. Twenty-eight (37.8%) patients basically completely adapted to
tinnitus and 46 (62.2%) patients did not completely adapted to residual
tinnitus. Eight (10.8%) patients had no impact on life, 39 (52.7%) patients had slight impact, 22 (29.7%) patients had moderate impact, and the other 5 (6.8%) patients had greater impact. According to
tinnitus evaluation questionnaire(TEQ), there were 12 cases (16.2%) of grade Ⅰ, 26 cases (35.1%) of grade Ⅱ, 28 cases (37.8%) of grade Ⅲ, 7 cases (9.5%) of grade Ⅳ and 1 case (1.4%) of grade Ⅴ. According to
tinnitus handicap inventory(THI),
tinnitus disability was classified into grade Ⅰ, 22 cases (29.7%), grade Ⅱ, 14 cases (18.9%), Grade Ⅲ, 27 cases (36.5%) and grade Ⅳ, 11 cases (14.9%). Conclusion: The rate of residual
tinnitus following treatment of
sudden deafness is high. Some of the patients can completely adapt residual
tinnitus after one year, but some of them will be affected when sleep, work and study. Residual
tinnitus can lead to
tinnitus disability in different degrees.