A worrying new study reveals that tinnitus (or hearing in the ear) and even hearing loss may be related to some cases of long-term COVID-19.
The research found that 14.8 percent of people infected with the error suffer from tinnitus, 7.6 percent have experienced hearing loss and 7.2 percent have developed dizziness, the sensation of turning.
Professor Kevin Munro, audiologists at the University of Manchester, director of the Manchester Center for Audiology and Deafness, and PhD researcher Ibrahim Almufarrij found 56 studies that identified a link between COVID-19 and hearing and vestibular problems, according to Sky News.
The vestibular sensory system includes parts of the inner ear and brain that process information related to balance control and spatial orientation.
“If it’s true that between 7% and 15% have these symptoms, we should take it very seriously,” said Munro, who pooled data from 24 studies.
“There are major implications for clinical services if this means that there may be a large increase in the number of people presenting,” added Munro, whose findings were published in the International Journal of Audiology.
Hearing problems can be caused by multiple viruses, including measles, mumps, and meningitis, which damage the inner ear’s sensory cells, but it’s unclear why COVID-19 can also cause these problems.
“There are some people who say the symptoms continue. There are others who say it seems to have settled down a bit, so there are a lot of unknowns now,” Munro told Sky News.
The recent suicide of Texas Roadhouse founder and CEO Kent Taylor, who suffered from long-term COVID-19, has focused attention on hearing problems related to the fatal error.
Paul Johnson, 53, admitted to a hospital in December with COVID-19, has suffered from tinnitus ever since.
“It’s a persistent, very high-pitched whistle that sounds,” he told Sky News.
“Something I could compare it to would be if you have running water through a pipe, passing through a valve, but you turn it slightly to get a kind of ‘shh’: a whistle sound, but it’s a much higher frequency than that, ”he added.
Johnson said he first noticed the irritating sound two weeks before entering and that it got worse.
“You notice it a lot at night, when there’s no noise around you, there’s no noise in the background, the TV is off and you have that constant whistle,” he told the dam.
“I think at the moment I would consider it manageable. I can’t say keep me awake, but I certainly hope it doesn’t get louder or more noticeable, ”Johnson added.
The researchers ’data mainly used self-reported medical questionnaires or records to obtain COVID-19-related symptoms, rather than the most scientifically reliable hearing tests.
Munro suggested that tinnitus can also be caused by actual hearing damage due to noise or infection, even psychological triggers such as stress and anxiety.
Thus, while there may be reasonable hypotheses to show how COVID-19 could directly harm a person’s hearing, he said the current evidence is not good enough to prove causation, according to New Atlas.
“The virus may attack and damage the hearing system,” he said. “On the other hand, the mental and emotional stress of the pandemic can be the trigger. But we must be careful when interpreting these findings, as it is not always clear whether studies report existing symptoms. or new. What is missing are good quality studies comparing tinnitus in people with and without COVID-19 “.
They are now conducting a more detailed clinical study which they hope can accurately estimate the number and severity of coronavirus-related hearing disorders in the UK.