The earliest symptom of acoustic nerve tumour is

Cochleovestibular symptoms are the earliest symptoms when a tumour is still intracanalicular and are caused by pressure on cochlear or vestibular nerve fibres or on the internal auditory aery.Progressive unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, often accompanied by tinnitus, is the presenting symptom in the majority of cases. There is marked difficulty in understanding speech, out of propoion to the pure tone hearing loss. This feature is characteristic of acoustic neuroma. Vestibular symptoms are imbalance or unsteadiness. True veigo is seldom seen. Ref : Diseases of ENT by Dhingra Pgno : 112