Emerging evidence links COVID-19 with tinnitus and hearing problems
A new systematic review investigating published research on the relationship between COVID-19 and hearing problems is suggesting a number of audio-vestibular symptoms can be associated with the disease. The review found hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo can all be associated with COVID-19 and the researchers are currently conducting a year-long study to better understand the long-term effects of the disease on hearing.
Kevin Munro and Ibrahim Almufarrij, audiologists from the University of Manchester, first conducted a rapid systematic review into the links between COVID-19 and hearing problems last year. The rapid review looked at the first few months of research and case reports emerging in the early days of the pandemic.
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Both Munro and Almufarrij are clear in noting the evidence evaluated in their latest review is based on anecdotal reports and self-reported symptoms. So it is not at all clear if this burgeoning association is causally connected.
“It is important not to diagnose audio-vestibular symptoms where they do not exist or where they are coincidental, given the high rates of COVID-19 in the population,” notes Munro in a recent piece for The Conversation. “However, the findings of the review might simply reflect the start of our understanding of this emergent health condition.”
Tinnitus, for example, is a symptom increasingly linked to long COVID. As well as patients reporting COVID-19 exacerbating their pre-existing tinnitus, some believe the disease could initiate the appearance of tinnitus.
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https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/covid19-tinnitus-hearing-loss-coronavirus-study-manchester/
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