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Corona could trigger or worsen tinnitus

2021-03-24T17:43:33.408Z


Covid 19 disease can apparently affect hearing: A study documents cases of tinnitus, hearing loss, dizziness and ear pain. However, the virus does not have to be the cause.


Enlarge image

Persistent ringing in the ears can be very stressful for those affected

Photo: Animaflora / iStockphoto / Getty Images

Many know the unpleasant whistling in the ear from times when there were no corona measures and discos were still open.

After a night of dancing with loud music, it often beeps in the ear for the entire next day.

But the annoying noise disappears in the vast majority of cases.

It is different for people who suffer from tinnitus.

The ringing in the ears keeps coming back - or even lasts forever.

The suffering for those affected is great.

An overview study that appeared in the Journal of International Audiology earlier this week now suggests that pathological tinnitus could also be related to Covid-19.

British researchers came to this conclusion after examining almost 60 cross-sectional studies and case reports.

Around 15 percent of the patients reported ringing in the ears that occurred after their Covid 19 infection or was aggravated by the disease.

28 of the patients observed in the studies reported hearing loss or complete hearing loss as a result of their Covid 19 disease.

The authors of the study note that in some of the studies it is not clear whether the symptoms existed before the infection and were aggravated by Covid-19 or whether the symptoms were completely new.

So far, tinnitus or impaired hearing are not listed as Covid-19 symptoms in Germany.

However, the British National Health Service (NHS) has tinnitus and earache on its list of symptoms at Long Covid, i.e. complaints caused by Covid-19 that those affected sometimes still have months after their illness.

After the study was published, co-author Kevin Munro from the University of Manchester received a lot of feedback: “In the first 24 hours after that, I received around 100 emails from people who said, 'I'm so happy to read this, my doctor declared me crazy when I named tinnitus as one of the symptoms.

Now I know that I'm not alone with this, '”said the audiologist for the New York Times.

"There are many viral diseases that affect hearing, such as measles, mumps and rubella," says audiologist Eldre Beukes from Anglia Ruskin University in England, according to the New York Times.

She conducted a study last year that looked at 3,100 people with tinnitus.

237 study participants stated that they were infected with Sars-CoV-2.

In 40 percent of them, the tinnitus has since "worsened significantly".

One study participant reported that she had been hard of hearing in her right ear all her life.

When her daughter was born two years ago, there was a buzz in both ears that never went away.

In September she became infected with Sars-CoV-2.

"It immediately affected my ears," says the woman, according to the NYT.

"On a scale from one to ten, the buzz was three before, now it's seven."

Corona = stress = tinnitus

The exact causes of tinnitus are not clear and can be varied (read more about the causes and risk factors of tinnitus here).

The ringing in the ears often occurs as a result of a sudden hearing loss, which in turn can be triggered by stress or excessive noise exposure.

In the British survey study, too, the question of possible physiological causes remains open.

The worsening tinnitus reported by some study participants does not necessarily have to be caused by the disease itself.

According to Beukes, it could also be related to the drugs that patients take against Covid-19.

"And there is the well-known connection between tinnitus and stress," she says.

And many are now stressed in the corona pandemic.

Homeschooling, fear of infection, financial hardship, isolation or social pressure, for example, can worsen the stress level of every individual - and thereby also increase the risk of tinnitus.

In people who already have tinnitus, the ringing in the ears could therefore worsen regardless of an infection with the virus.

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2021-03-24

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