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.