Surgery and Tinnitus for Otosclerotic Patients.

In our experience, tinnitus for otosclerosis may be due to the following: poor vibration of the inner ear fluids, fixation of the footplate, destruction of the Corti hair cells by the proteolytic enzymes, acoustic trauma, or to poor inner ear blood supply due to the hyalinization of the spiral ligament of the stria vascularis. The aim of this article is to suggest some explanations to enhance future research work carried out by other authors on this important issue, and to show what are the results of surgery in our experience, as far as tinnitus is concerned. Only complete release of the tinnitus one year after surgery is taken into account to assess the results.