Abstract: Objective To explore the characteristics and risk factors of sudden deafness. Methods Adult patients with sudden deafness who visited the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital from January 2017 to December 2020 were taken as the research subjects. The basic situation, personal history, basic diseases, and laboratory indicators were collected, take health examination population of the hospital as the control in the ratio of 1∶1, and the clinical characteristics and risk factors of sudden deafness were analyzed. Results Finally, 710 cases of sudden deafness were included, including 598 cases （84.25%） with tinnitus, 320 cases （45.00%） with vertigo, 268 cases （37.75%） with ear tightness, 124 cases （17.50%） with numbness around ears, 245 cases （34.50%） with nausea, and 164 cases （23.13%） with vomiting. A total of 756 ears with sudden deafness. Unilateral hearing loss accounted for 93.12% and severe hearing loss accounted for 40.34%. The most common type of hearing curve was flat decline, accounting for 35.19%. Multivariate conditional Logistic regression analysis showed that adults with diabetes （OR=3.221）, cerebrovascular disease （OR=2.698）, sleep disturbance （OR=3.002）, history of the common cold （OR=4.521）, abnormal total cholesterol （TC） （OR=2.554）, and abnormal homocysteine （Hcy） （OR=4.654） were more likely to develop sudden deafness. Conclusion Sudden deafness can be accompanied by tinnitus, vertigo, and other symptoms, and is affected by diabetes, cerebrovascular diseases, blood lipids and Hcy metabolic abnormalities, common cold, and other factors. Risk factors should be controlled as far as possible according to the patient’s condition, to reduce the risk of sudden deafness.

Key words: Sudden deafness, Audiological characteristics, Risk factor, Total cholesterol, Homocysteine