Abstract:Objective To investigate the changes of vestibular function before and after virtual reality vestibular rehabilitation in patients with total deafness type sudden deafness with vertigo, and explore the influencing factors of therapeutic effect.Methods Seventy-five patients with total deafness type sudden deafness with vertigo who were initially diagnosed and treated with virtual reality vestibular rehabilitation from August 2019 to August 2023 in Haidian Hospital were selected as the experimental group, and 41 patients with total deafness with vertigo who did not undergo vestibular rehabilitation during the same period were taken as the control group. Average hearing thresholds of 0.25 to 8 KHz were retested after 14 days of treatment. An increase of more than 30 dB in impaired hearing was classified as the significant effect group (n=39), 15 dB to 30 dB as the effective group (n=35), and less than 15 dB as the ineffective group (n=42). Clinical data such as results of dual-temperature test and video head pulse test were collected before and after treatment. Multifactorial logistic regression was used to analyse the influencing factors of efficacy. The predictive value of vestibular function parameters for patient outcomes was assessed using R software.Results Before treatment, there was no significant difference in vestibular function between the two groups (all P>0.05). After treatment, compared with the control group, the vestibular-ocular reflex gain value of the experimental group was higher, while the vertigo duration, abnormal rate of saccade wave, abnormal rate of asymmetry ratio, abnormal rate of unilateral response attenuation index and abnormal rate of dominance bias were lower (all P<0.05). The treatment efficacy of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group (20.00% vs 2.44%, χ2=6.875, P=0.009). Except for the vertigo disorder scale-affection, all scores of the vertigo disorder scale and hospital anxiety and depression scale in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all P<0.05). The rate of virtual reality vestibular rehabilitation, horizontal hemianopsia gain and posterior hemianopsia gain were lower in the ineffective group, whereas the age, time of initial consultation, hearing loss, the abnormal rates of unilateral response attenuation index, dominance bias, and saccade wave were higher. The multifactorial logistic regression showed that the time of initial consultation≥14 days, hearing loss≥100 dB, abnormal unilateral response attenuation index, abnormal dominance bias, and saccade wave were independent risk factors for treatment failure. Patients receiving virtual reality vestibular rehabilitation had a positive effect on improving outcomes. The combined dual-temperature test and video head pulse test had the best predictive value, with the joint predictive C-statistic being 0.861 (95%CI:0.566-0.984, P<0.001), the net reclassification index being 0.735 (95%CI:0.589-0.990,P<0.001) and the composite discrimination improvement index being 0.245 (95%CI:0.144-0.647, P<0.001).Conclusions Virtual reality vestibular rehabilitation has a positive effect on improving clinical outcomes in patients with total deafness type sudden deafness with vertigo. It can improve vestibular function, reduce vertigo duration, and relieve vertigo symptoms and anxiety. The time of initial diagnosis ≥14 days, hearing loss≥100 dB, abnormal unilateral response attenuation index, abnormal dominance bias and abnormal saccade wave are risk factors affecting the therapeutic effect.