COVID-19 has a few uncommon symptoms like dampening your sense of taste and smell. Indeed, loss of smell is often one of the first symptoms of infection. But COVID-19 affects more than just your sense of smell and taste. New discoveries are uncovering an unusual, but longer-term issue: irreversible sensorineural hearing loss.
How Can COVID-19 Result In Hearing Loss?
Every day scientists are learning more with regards to COVID-19. But there’s still a lot we don’t understand. The virus itself was only first discovered in late 2019. New pathogens normally take years or decades for scientists to identify. And COVIC-19 is particularly challenging because it impacts different people in different ways.
There are lots of symptoms you can suffer from. And one of those symptoms is irreversible hearing loss. Why this happens is still not known. It could be something called “cellular stress” caused by the virus. Certain cells (such as the cells in your ear) will start to breakdown, according to this theory, because the virus places so much strain on the body. But your body’s own immune response may also be responsible for this kind of hearing loss. Significant damage can be done to your body when your immune system goes into overdrive.
Also, when other COVID symptoms are almost gone, this hearing loss can still become apparent. Again, we aren’t quite certain why this happens. We are also clueless why it’s more or less likely to occur.
Is There Any Treatment For This Type of Hearing Loss?
Permanent sensorineural hearing loss is possible as a result of COVID-19. Naturally, there are many variables, and there are a few treatments, also. It’s already been discovered that early steroid treatments seem to help protect your hearing from added damage. If you do experience sudden loss of hearing, you need to talk to a doctor.
Either way, once you’ve completely recovered from your COVID-19 situation, it may be a good move to visit us and have a hearing test.
There are a couple of qualifiers to all of this that should be pointed out. First of all, hearing loss does appear to be a fairly uncommon symptom of COVID. We don’t know yet how common this particular symptom is yet. But it’s likely that the science on COVID will keep updating and changing as scientists discover more.
Can COVID Related Hearing Loss be Prevented?
Presently, if you already have COVID, you should let us or your doctor know right away if you have any sudden change to your hearing. Long-term hearing loss can be minimized by rapid response.
Try to stay healthy: The best way to prevent COVID-related hearing loss is to do everything possible to steer clear of contracting COVID in the first place. This means sticking with guidelines in regards to social gatherings, physical distancing, and wearing a mask.
This symptom does occur though it’s rare. And the more insight you have about COVID and hearing loss, the better. It’s a good idea to come in for an assessment if you think you have suffered hearing damage.