Evaluation of the efferent auditory system in COVID-19 adult patients

Abstract

Background

The short- and long-term effects of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on the medial olivocochlear reflex and outer hair cells in the cochlea remain largely unclear.

Aims

The aim of this study was to investigate the efferent auditory system effects in adult patients with COVID-19.

Materials and methods

The study included 18–50 years old 44 volunteers: 26 individuals (52 ears) with COVID-19 in the study group and 18 healthy individuals (36 ears) in the control group. Otolaryngological examination, immitancemetric evaluation, distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), contralateral acoustic stimulation with DPOAE, audiometric evaluation, and high frequency audiometric evaluation were performed in all individuals participating in the study.

Results

In our study, patients with COVID-19 had significantly lower DPOAE results with or without broadband noise at only 6 kHz frequency and contralateral suppression results at all frequencies compared to healthy individuals. A statistically significant difference was found between the study and control groups according to whether the participants had a response in the high frequency audiometry at 12 and 16 kHz frequencies.

Conclusions

COVID-19 affects many systems in the body. As a result of the findings obtained in the present study, it is shown that the auditory efferent system may also be affected.

Chinese Abstract

背景：严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）感染对内侧橄榄状耳蜗反射和耳蜗外毛细胞的短期和长期影响仍然不是很明确。

目的：调查COVID-19成年患者的传出听觉系统效应。

材料和方法：该研究包括 18-50 岁 44 名志愿者：研究组有26 名COVID-19患者（52 只耳朵）, 对照组有 18 名健康者（36 只耳朵）。对参与研究的每个人进行了耳鼻喉科检查、导抗评估、畸变产物耳声发射(DPOAE)、DPOAE 对侧声学刺激、听力评估和高频 听力评估。

结果：在我们的研究中, 与健康个体相比, COVID-19 患者的 DPOAE 结果明显较低, 仅在 6 kHz 频率, 无论有无宽带噪声。他们的所有频率的对侧抑制结果也明显较低。根据参与者在 12 和 16 kHz 频率的高频测听中是否有反应, 研究组和对照组之间存在统计学上的显著差异。

结论：COVID-19 影响体内许多系统。目前的研究表明, 听觉传出系统也可能受到影响。

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2
• medial olivocochlear reflex
• outer hair cells
• hearing loss

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all participants in this study. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors..