The effect on tinnitus in 110 patients undergoing translabyrinthine vestibular nerve section is presented. The effect on tinnitus of vestibular and cochlear nerve section (VCNS) together and vestibular nerve section (VNS) alone was studied. The number of patients improved with VCNS (61 per cent) was slightly better than with VNS alone (49 per cent). VNS alone worsened tinnitus more often than VCNS. Age, side involved, sex, etiology of vertigo, severity of tinnitus, interference with sleep and activities, slope of the pre-operative audiogram, and magnitude of the hearing loss had no value in predicting the change in tinnitus following either VNS or VCNS.