The Effects of COVID-19 on Tinnitus Severity and Quality of Life in Individuals With Subjective Tinnitus

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) on tinnitus severity and quality of life in infected and non-infected individuals who were re-admitted to our clinic after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods

The study involved both retrospective and prospective data analysis. The study included 30 individuals aged 20–65 years with normal hearing who had undergone psychoacoustic, tinnitus, and psychosomatic evaluations before the pandemic. Participants were divided into Group 1 (n = 15, COVID-19 negative) and Group 2 (n = 15, COVID-19 positive). Before the pandemic, tinnitus-related evaluations of all participants (i.e., pure tone audiometry [PTA], tinnitus frequency, loudness, minimum masking level [MML], and residual inhibition [RI]) were conducted, and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and Short Form 36 (SF-36) were administered to all participants. All assessments were repeated after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Results

There was no significant difference in the mean PTA thresholds of both groups before and after the pandemic (p > 0.05). There was a significant increase in tinnitus severity after COVID-19 infection in Group 2 (p < 0.05). Moreover, it was found that the VAS (loudness and annoyance), THI (functional, emotional, catastrophic, and total score), and SF-36 (physical function, physical role, pain, general health, vitality, emotional role, and social function) values worsened significantly compared to before COVID-19 infection (p < 0.05). In Group 1, the only significant differences were found in the THI emotional subdomain and the SF-36 emotional and general health subdomains (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found in the other evaluations of Group 1, neither before nor after the pandemic (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

Although negative effects of the pandemic were observed in individuals with tinnitus who were not infected with COVID-19, both the quality of life and tinnitus severity of individuals with tinnitus who were infected with COVID-19 worsened.