Hello everyone,

I was recently diagnosed in Feb 2026 with a very small intracanalicular acoustic neuroma (~3 mm) after getting an MRI because of tinnitus.

My current hearing test results (April 2026):

Left ear: ~13 dB HL
Right ear: ~24 dB HL
Audiologist interpretation: little to no hearing loss

Symptoms I currently experience:

Tinnitus in both ears
The tinnitus in my left ear is constant and more noticeable
The tinnitus in my right ear is milder and sometimes barely noticeable
I sometimes feel ear fullness or a blocked sensation in the left ear that comes and goes
My hearing technically tests as normal, but subjectively it sometimes feels like sound is not “fully satisfying” or balanced

Mentally i am very disturbed, i am just 43 and have responsibility of kids and need active life for another 20 years atleast for my kids . This condition and future losses are very concerning for me , i am just crying when i get a thought about it or having a nice time , my mind always things nice times are not going to last . how did you guys cope up with your conditions .  More than physically, mentally affected a lot . i dont know whether its stress or bad eating brought me this . please give me some advice to stay strong .

From what I have noticed it takes a lot of symptoms or a very very large tumor for doctors to act quickly.  With the size of your tumor and the symptoms being minor at the moment I'm not surprised that they are choosing to wait.  They usually want at to determine if it's growing and if so what the growth rate is.  I am a little surprised that they are waiting what appears to be 10 months for another scan.  My second MRI was only 3 months from the first one.  Mine was determined to be growing slowly and I ended up having 7 MRI's over the next couple years, with minor growth showing every single time, and symptoms multiplying as well before they finally said ok it's time to do surgery.  I chose the surgical route over the radiation route because I had read several cases where radiation either didn't work at all, or was only a temporary solution.  I felt that the surgery gave the best chance of being done with it for good.  But there are others who went the radiation path and had success that way too with significantly less recovery time.  Personally I feel my recovery couldn't have gone better.  I am single side deaf now, but by the time they finally agreed to do the surgery I had less than 10 percent hearing left in that ear anyway so it really isn't that much of change. 

Hello,

I am a 36 year old male who was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma last November. My current symptoms are tinnitus and mild to severe hearing loss on the left hand side. My AN measures 24x24x23mm.
I was referred on to an ENT surgeon who took a look at my case and decided to take a wait and see approach with another scan to be conducted in September.

From what I've read this size of AN would warrant a more immediate reaction but maybe I'm just being impatient. Has anybody had an AN of that size that they've continued watch and wait on? Would anyone recommend getting a second opinion?

Thanks.

Wow 8 years later.  I wouldn't think it would be Gamma Knife related either.  That's a long time for a side effect to show up.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post. I truly appreciate your support and insight.

I also wanted to share that I’ve now completed GK treatment. Reading through posts from others in the ANA community, including thoughtful replies like yours, has meant more to me than I can fully express. From the moment I was diagnosed through treatment, this community helped me educate myself, explore the best medical options, and feel supported during some of the most difficult moments.

Your willingness to share and respond makes a real difference for people like me. Thank you again for being part of that support system.

Diagnosed 10/2025
18x11 mm VS left side; right 4mm incidental petroclival meningioma close to trigeminal porus.
GK for VS @ University of Miami 3/2026