Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL) in the elderly.Methods 215 older patients with ISSHL from the department of ENT in our hospital during 2010.12-2015.12 were collected.To analyze the effect of clinical characteristics,the type of hearing curve and the impact of family area on the prognosis of patients.Results Among the 215 elderly patients with ISSHL,there were 105 male patients (48.8％),110 female patients (51.2％),mean age 61-95(65.1 ± 14.6)years;including 197 cases of unilateral deafness (91.6％),bilateral hearing loss in 18 cases (8.4％);treatment onset time of 0.5-40 days,the median was 7 days in time.Deaf type force curve in 103 cases (47.9％),in high frequency descent type in 45 cases (20.9％),41 cases of flat type (19.1％),low frequency descent type in 26 cases (12.1％).After standard treatment,36 cases were cured,90 cases improved,89 cases ineffective,the total effective rate was 58.6％.After statistical analysis,the patient's hearing curve type,the side,first visiting time,and the prognosis from the urban or rural areas had significant effects on the prognosis of the patients,and the effect was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The prognosis of ISSHL in elderly patients is significantly related to the side of the disease,visiting time,the type of hearing curve,and the patients from the urban or rural areas.