Objective To understand the influence of drug treatment on the response amplitude of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) in patients with high-profile tinnitus, and to analyze the relationship between therapeutic effect and the duration of the disease via analyzing the changes in the response amplitude of DPOAE before and after drug treatment in patients with high-profile acute tinnitus, subacute tinnitus, and chronic tinnitus.Methods According to the duration of onset, the patients with high-profile tinnitus and normal hearing were divided into three groups: acute tinnitus group [disease duration≤3 months, 25 cases (27 ears)], subacute tinnitus group [3 months﹤disease duration≤12 months, 23 cases (26 ears)], chronic tinnitus group [disease duration>12 months, 20 cases (24 ears)]. Before and after drug treatment of two weeks, all the patients underwent DPOAE examination with record of response amplitude. The influence of drug treatment on the response amplitude of DPOAE was preliminarily evaluated and the relationship between therapeutic effect and disease duration was analyzed.Results After drug treatment of two weeks, the DPOAE response amplitude did not changes significantly at the frequencies of 0.5~1 kHz and the differences in the changes of DPOAE response amplitude among three groups were statistically insignificant. However, the changes in DPOAE response amplitude at the frequencies of 2～8 kHz, except for the chronic tinnitus group at 6 and 8kHz, were statistically significant (all P<0.05), and the differences in the changes of DPOAE response amplitude before and after treatment among the three groups were also statistically significant (all P<0.05). The changes in the DPOAE elicitation rate before and after treatment among the three groups were statistically insignificant at the frequencies of 0.5~1.5 kHz, but significant at the frequencies of 2～8 kHz except the chronic tinnitus group at 6 and 8kHz. After drug treatment, the effective rates were 100% in the acute group, 65.38% in the subacute group, and 29.17% in the chronic group. The differences of effective rate among the three groups were statistically significant (all P<0.01).Conclusions It is an effective treatment method for high-profile tinnitus to give medication to improve the inner ear microcirculation. The shorter the course duration, the greater the increase in the DPOAE response amplitude and the higher effective rate after treatment. It is recommended to provide early detection and intervention to increase the cure rate and improve the patients’ quality of life.