key: cord-0797202-o6r5l5yz authors: Alves de Sousa, Francisco; Costa, Rodrigo Pinto; Xará, Sandra; Pinto, Ana Nóbrega; Almeida e Sousa, Cecília title: SARS-CoV-2 and hearing: an audiometric analysis of COVID-19 hospitalized patients date: 2021-02-03 journal: J Otol DOI: 10.1016/j.joto.2021.01.005 sha: df2034c45158f528fb3ad7403235f127cacc7c6d doc_id: 797202 cord_uid: o6r5l5yz Purpose COVID-19 associated hearing loss is still an ongoing matter of debate. No original studies exist on audiological effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized patients. The main objective was to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 may affect auditory function in clinically ill COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods COVID-19 patients with moderate-severe disease and without prior history of hearing abnormalities were enrolled from a tertiary referral center, and matched with controls. Participants performed an audiometric evaluation, and thresholds were compared. Results 120 ears from 60 patients were enrolled. Patients with COVID-19 showed worse mean auditory thresholds starting from 1000 Hz through higher frequencies, when compared to controls ( 1000 Hz : 18.52 ± 5.49 dB HL in controls vs 25.36 ± 6.79 dB HL in COVID-19, p<0.001; 2000Hz : 17.50 ± 5.57 dB HL in controls vs 21.96 ± 7.05 dB HL in COVID-19, p=0.010; 3000Hz : 17.97 ± 8.07 dB HL in controls vs 25 ± 9.38 dB HL in COVID-19, p=0.003; 4000 Hz : 20.16 ± 10.12 dB HL in controls vs 29.55 ± 11.26 dB HL in COVID-19, p=0.001; 8000 Hz : 31.09 ± 12.75 dB HL in controls vs 40.71 ± 19.40 dB HL in COVID-19, p=0.030; Pure Tone Average : 20.42 ± 4.29 dB HL in controls vs 24.85 ± 5.62 dB HL in COVID-19, p=0.001). Statistical significance persisted after adjusting for confounders such as age, gender and various comorbidities (p<0.05). Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 may affect hearing in COVID-19 patients with moderate-severe disease. Results are in line with the previous suggested effects of COVID-19 on auditory system. This study is expected to encourage further research on this topic. Materials and Methods: COVID-19 patients with moderate-severe disease and without 8 prior history of hearing abnormalities were enrolled from a tertiary referral center, and 9 matched with controls. Participants performed an audiometric evaluation, and 10 thresholds were compared. The study was conducted during November and December 2020, at the peak of 70 Portugal´s COVID-19 second wave. A total of 60 patients and 120 ears were enrolled. J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f was run inside those categories for finer comparison (see Figure 2) , at the cost of 164 having a limited sample size for each category (Figure 1) . There is a lack of discussion on the relationship between COVID-19 and hearing, difference however is that in COVID-19 hospitalized patients significance was also 246 found further beyond between 1000-8000 Hz. 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