COVID-19 and transtympanic injections for sudden sensorineural hearing loss

BACKGROUND: Multiple reports have linked COVID-19 infection with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), although other studies have failed to demonstrate this association. The current study was conceived to examine the rates of SSNHL across a large, principally national, population by characterizing the rate of transtympanic injections for SSNHL during the pandemic. METHODS: Retrospective review of all patients that underwent transtympanic injection from 2019 to 2020. RESULTS: Covering a unique beneficiary population of 9.6 million individuals of all ages in the United States, a statistically significant decrease in transtympanic injections for SSNHL was performed from 2019 to 2020 (p = 0.04, IRR = 0.91, 95 % CI = 0.84–0.99). No patient receiving a transtympanic injection also had a COVID-19 diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the idea that COVID-19 infections do not clinically significantly increase patients' risk of developing SSNHL. In fact, the decreased exposure through social isolation to other common viruses implicated in causing SSNHL may have actually led to a lower rate of SSNHL during the pandemic.