Question Is the incidence of acoustic neuroma associated with mobile phone usage? Study design Population-based case-control study. Main results Risk of acoustic neuroma was not statistically higher among people regularly using mobile phones compared with those who never or rarely using one (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.57). No increased risk was associated with the length of time since beginning regular use of mobile phones, total duration or number of calls (see Table 1). In people with acoustic neuroma, mean tumour size was bigger in regular mobile phone users (1.66 cm 3) than non-users (1.39 cm 3) (Wilcoxon, p=0.03) but the increased risk of developing a large tumour (⩾1.51 cm 3) was not statistically significant (OR 1.87, 95% CI 0.75 to 4.64). Authors’ conclusions Mobile phone usage is not positively associated with the development of acoustic neuroma, regardless of the estimated total duration or number of calls, or the length of time since regular use began. Table 1 Odds of developing acoustic neuroma according to mobile phone usage Time since beginning of regular usage OR 95% CI Never/rarely used/<1 year 1.00 1 to 4 years 0.86 0.45 to 1.62 ⩾5 years 0.68 0.32 to 1.44 5 to 9 years 0.86 0.39 to 1.93 ⩾10 years 0.22 0.04 to 1.11 Life time cumulative number of calls Never/rarely used 1.00 ⩽2975 0.99 0.53 to 1.83 2975 to 11 550 0.79 0.32 to 1.92 >11 550 0.72 0.28 to 1.87 Life time cumulative hours of use Never/rarely used 1.00 ⩽167.5 0.93 0.49 to 1.74 >167.5 to 654 1.01 0.43 to 2.38 >1654 0.66 0.25 to 1.74