SSHL AND COVID-19
Professionals are beginning to investigate possible links between sudden sensorineural hearing loss and SARS-CoV-2.
“What surprises me the most is the number of people who are reporting problems with their hearing—I’ve been getting hundreds of emails from people telling me they’re experiencing hearing loss or tinnitus. Still, I think we have to be careful and not say that COVID-19 is causing everyone to be deaf. We can say that more than one in 10 people are reporting that something has changed with their hearing, but we still don't know everything about it."
- Kevin Munro, PhD, Director of Machester Centre for Audiology and Deafness
(Fahmy, 2020)
"Do you believe your hearing loss has any relation to the outbreak of COVID-19?"
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Over half of survey participants with SSHL did not believe there to be any relation between their sudden hearing loss and the outbreak of COVID-19. Others thought it possible, and the rest were convinced that it was the coronavirus that brought it on.
IT IS POSSIBLE FOR VIRUSES TO AFFECT THE AUDITORY SYSTEM.
Other coronaviruses, such as MERS and SARS, have not been known to do this, but these also have not demonstrated the severe long-term effects that accompany COVID-19.
Some viruses that are known to trigger hearing loss include:
Measles
Mumps
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection
(Fahmy, 2020)
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Recent studies have documented evidence that Covid-19 infected people, even those who are asymptomatic, may experience damage to cochlear hair cells, which could negatively affect their hearing. (Associated Audiologists, 2020)
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EMERGING EVIDENCE
The first case of COVID-19- related hearing loss was reported in April 2020. An old woman, among the first infected in Thailand, developed hearing loss which persisted even after she recovered from respiratory symptoms.
(Yong, 2020)
A study in Egypt on 20 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients between the ages 20-50 administered multiple auditory tests that identified a definite decline in hearing sensitivity. These patients had no history of hearing problems, suggesting that COVID-19 likely has negative effects on hair cells in the cochlea.
(Yong, 2020)
A study conducted in June examined six Iranian COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms such as fever, cough and breathing difficulties. Four of them had developed tinnitus, two were experiencing vertigo, and all of them had mild-to-moderate unilateral hearing loss.
(Yong, 2020)
In one study, COVID-19 patients from 7 different research projects presented with some form of hearing loss. One had a severe hearing impairment in both ears while another had a mild unilateral hearing loss. Other people experienced tinnitus fluctuating between both ears. No unifying root between them was identified.
(Fahmy, 2020)
A study of 121 adult COVID-19 patients found that 13% of them self-reported hearing loss and/or the development of tinnitus eight weeks after discharge.
(Fahmy, 2020)
In the UK, a 45-year old man with asthma experiencing severe covid-19 symptoms reported hearing loss in one ear while being treated on a ventilator in the ICU. He began to recover after receiving antiviral drugs, steroid injections and a blood transfusion, but suddenly developed hearing loss again, along with ringing in the ears, a week after the breathing tube was removed.
(Crist, 2020)
42-year old Meredith Harrell's right ear began ringing before she realized she could not hear out of it. A week later, she received a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, though she had none of the classic symptoms.
(Smith, 2020)
After catching COVID-19, a 23-year old student named Liam lost 70-80% of his hearing in his left ear. After weeks of virus symptoms, including, headache, fever and fatigue, he began to feel better- only to acquire tinnitus, which still has not dissipated.
(Smith, 2020)
In an autopsy study, a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found traces of SARS-CoV-2 in the middle ears of patients.
(Nania, 2020)
