Sudden sensorineural hearing loss in COVID-19: A case series from the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals, United Kingdom

Sudden sensory neural hearing Loss (SSNHL) needs to be identified and managed correctly in a secondary or tertiary centre. Whilst 45% of presentations are said to be idiopathic in nature, several viruses have been linked to its aetiology. It was noted, anecdotally, that more patients were presenting with SSNHL during the COVID-19 pandemic to our ENT service at Wrightington Wigan and Leigh teaching hospitals, UK (WWL). We identified 4 COVID-19 positive patients who presented to our ENT service with SSNHL. Despite normal findings on external ear examination, three of the patients showed bilateral hearing loss, whilst one had a predominantly unilateral loss. Given our findings we would like to present these four cases, as well as providing hypotheses on possible aetiology of this association. This may aid in research, diagnosis and treatment of future COVID positive patients with SSNHL.