Hearing preservation following surgical removal of meningiomas affecting the temporal bone

It is a common clinical impression that preservation of hearing is more often achieved when removing a meningioma than a similarly sized acoustic tumor. However, relatively few reports have focused on postoperative hearing results after meningioma removal, and detailed audiometric data are not commonly provided, particularly in the neurosurgical literature. During the past 16 years, 56 meningiomas affecting the temporal bone have been surgically removed at the House Ear Clinic. Hearing preservation was attempted in 16 (29%) of the 56 cases, and these were the focus of this study. The primary presenting symptom was otologic in 67% of these cases, including hearing loss as the primary symptom in 27%. Measurable postoperative hearing was present in 11 (92%) of 12 patients with postoperative audiograms available, and 8 (67%) of 12 patients had good hearing postoperatively. Hearing was preserved near the preoperative level (within 10 dB speech reception threshold and 15% speech discrimination) in 75% of cases.