Study about Persistent Tinnitus in Post Covid-19 Infections: 3 Cases

This chapter highlights about Persistent Tinnitus in Post Covid-19 Infections. In recent years, the prevalence and spread of coronavirus has had a huge impact on global public health. Due to the incomplete understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of the virus, it is difficult for humans to fight against the virus quickly and effectively once the outbreak occurs. Even though this disease mostly affects the respiratory system, it also affects several organs and systems, which can be fatal. There is concern for potential injury to the human inner ear, which houses the primary hearing organ. Tinnitus, defined as the sensation of hearing a sound in the absence of any external sound, is quite common, but usually transient, and doesn’t affect individuals significantly. For some though, it can be a serious issue with significant life-impact. Tinnitus and hearing loss are common in a variety of otolaryngological disorders, but they appear to be significantly worse in COVID -19 patients as a result of specific psycho-somatic issues and certain social-cultural reactions. Many people also believe that auto immune correlation is to blame. Tinnitus in COVID-19 individuals is a disorder that receives little attention in research or literature. Thus, this is humble attempt made by us to study three cases of persistent tinnitus in post COVID-19 infection. The severity, duration clinical findings along with detailed audiometric evaluation was done at a health care facility in Doha, Qatar for one-year period from June 2020 to May 2021. Emergence of idiopathic tinnitus with normal hearing was taken into consideration also. Co-morbidities did not affect tinnitus as it is important during the history taking process.