Unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss in COVID-19. Clinical observations and literature review

Abstract

At the end of 2019, an outbreak of a new coronavirus infection began in China, Wuhan, which is the first pandemic of the 21st century. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has classified the causative agent of the new disease as SARS-CoV-2, and on February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name of the infection – COVID-19. According to statistics for August 2021, the number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the world is 216 million, and the number of deaths is 4.5 million. COVID-19 can be asymptomatic or manifest with various clinical manifestations, including neurological and otorhinolaryngological. The article describes 3 clinical cases of unilateral sudden hearing impairment in patients with confirmed COVID-19. The diagnosis of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss was established using acumetry, tone threshold audiometry, acoustic impedance measurement, and recording of otoacoustic emissions. In most cases, COVID-19 is characterized by a certain clinical picture, however, with an asymptomatic and mild course, an atypical manifestation of the disease with the development of sudden sensorineural hearing loss is possible.