inner hair cell (IHC)

Audiological Profile of Asymptomatic COVID-19 PCR-Positive Cases

Despite ongoing research on COVID-19, there is much to learn about its effects on the auditory system in individuals who are symptomatic and asymptomatic.

In a recent article, Mustafa (2020) examined the impact of COVID-19 on the auditory system in 20, 20- to 50-year-old adults, who were confirmed positive for COVID-19, asymptomatic, and had no history of hearing loss.

The experimental and a control group of 20 subjects completed an otological examination, basic audiological evaluation, immittance evaluation, and transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs).

Perspectives on “Normal” Hearing and Perceived Hearing Complaints

Hidden hearing loss (HHL) is a popular topic referring to complaints of hearing difficulty or perceived hearing loss despite having “normal” audiometric thresholds. Within the scientific literature, this term has most recently been used to refer specifically to the reduced amplitude of sound-evoked neural responses that occurs with loss of synapses that connect the inner hair cells (IHCs) to the auditory nerve. In other words, the patient’s audiometric difficulties are hidden behind a normal audiogram.

Topic(s): Normal Hearing, perceived hearing complaint, Hidden Hearing Loss (HHL), audiometric threshold, Audiometric Test, inner hair cell (IHC), pure-tone average (PTA), extended high frequencies (EHF), Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder ANSD, Tinnitus, hearing handicap inventory for the elderly (HHIE), hearing handicap inventory for the adults (HHIA), noise-induced synaptopathy, auditory brainstem response (ABR), temporary threshold shift (TTS), synaptopathy, speech-in-noise testing (QuickSIN), word-in-noise test, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), tympanometry and middle-ear muscle reflexes (MEMR), dichotic processing, temporal processing, monaural low-redundancy, binaural interaction, spatial processing, Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAE), Auditory Evoked Response

Author(s):

Christopher Spankovich

Colleen Le Prell

Publication Issue: Audiology Today November/December 2017