Insights into perceived listening difficulties post COVID-19 infection: no measurable hearing difficulty on clinical tests despite increased self-reported listening effort

Frontiers in Neurology

Neurology

Enaam Alkharabshe¹  Khader Joudeh¹  Wafa'a Alanati¹  Sara Alhanbali¹  Kevin J. Munro² 

[1] Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan;Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom;National Institute for Health and Care Research Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom;

关键词: COVID-19;    listening effort;    fatigue;    psychology;    cognition;    sub-clinical hearing loss;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fneur.2023.1172441

 received in 2023-02-24, accepted in 2023-05-02,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveThe aim was to use a battery of clinic-based auditory assessment procedures to compare participants with and without self-reported hearing difficulties following a confirmed COVID-19 infection. A further aim was to compare the groups on self-reported measures of listening effort and fatigue.MethodsThere were 25 participants in each group (age range 20–59 years, 80% females). Participants were recruited after a minimum of 4 weeks of testing positive. Hearing assessment involved tympanometry, acoustic reflex thresholds, pure-tone audiometry (PTA; 0.25–14 kHz), and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs; 0.5–10 kHz). Listening effort was assessed using the Arabic version of the Effort Assessment Scale (EAS-A) and fatigue was assessed using the Arabic version of the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS-A).ResultsThere was no difference between groups on any measure except for greater self-reported listening effort in the perceived hearing difficulty group (p = 0.01).ConclusionThe only difference between groups was self-reported listening effort. This could be due to a subclinical auditory deficit following COVID-19, increased listening effort due to the impact of COVID-19 on cognitive processes, or a psychosomatic response/health anxiety.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Alhanbali, Alkharabshe, Alanati, Joudeh and Munro.