Researching the risk of hearing loss after COVID 19

This study aims to examine whether adult individuals have complaints of hearing loss during and after COVID-19 infection. As a result of the research, it was aimed to increase the richness in the literature by examining the relationship between the hearing loss phenomenon, which has an important place in the audiology literature, and COVID-19. COVID-19 shows its effect clearly in our country as well as in the whole world. It is worth investigating how this virus, which is known to be neurotrophic, affects the audio vestibular system in the early and late stages of patients. COVID-19, which is expected to be the subject of many researches, remains a mystery for the audiology science world, as it is expected to be the subject of many studies and the effect will last for a long time since the world is facing and there is no complete cure yet. Coronaviruses (COV) are a large family of viruses that cause diseases from the common cold to more serious diseases such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). The World Health Organization (WHO) accepted the new (novel) type of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology seen in Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019 (WHO, 2020). Hearing loss; Decreased hearing sensitivity, difficulty perceiving the surrounding sounds, hearing sounds such as ringing or buzzing in the ear can be defined as hearing loss. There is not enough scientific evidence yet that COVID-19 directly affects the hearing and balance system. Although minimal audio-vestibular symptoms have been reported in a few patients, studies are quite limited. The important deficiency in the literature, which has just begun to appear on this subject, is to ensure those hearing loss complaints are detected by surveying cases with a positive COVID-19 PCR test. Within the scope of the study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between COVID-19 and hearing loss, and for this purpose, it was tried to make practical determinations by analyzing the data obtained as a result of the field study, as well as the theoretical approach. During the survey, the duration of hearing loss and a difference in hearing status felt between the two ears were answered by the participants. In addition to the complaints of hearing loss, the participants were asked questions to scan the vestibular system, such as dizziness, ringing, and a feeling of fullness in the ear. The questionnaire study conducted with 92 participants concluded that the symptom of hearing loss constitutes a temporary situation and the duration is 3 weeks or fewer. It was stated that dizziness, tinnitus, and the feeling of fullness in the ear affecting the vestibular system were more common and the condition was temporary. Compared to other infections, it can be said that the symptom of hearing loss is milder. Although the most common type of hearing loss is sensorineural hearing loss, it is thought that COVID-19 infection causes damage to the inner ear. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there is a positive relationship between COVID-19 and hearing loss, and that hearing loss is encountered in individuals with COVID-19 disease. However, it has also been determined that the hearing loss is temporary. The results of the study suggest that healthcare personnel dealing with COVID-19 patients should consider that hearing loss may also occur in this process.