Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) evidently lead to many otolaryngological disorders such as sudden sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo. Endolymphatic hydrops symptoms (vertigo, tinnitus, ear fullness and nausea) following COVID-19 were reported in several studies over the last 2 years. This study was conducted on 258 COVID-19 patients to investigate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of Endolymphatic hydrops. The study took place between July 2020 and Jan 2022 at the Middle East Hearing and Balance Centre and Al-Ahliyya Amman University. All patients underwent full computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) as well as pure tone audiometry, middle ear assessment, elecrto-cochleography (EcochG), cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (C-VEMP) tests. The results showed about 48% of the cases had abnormalities in CDP findings, 43% had evidence of endolymphatic hydrops, 67% had abnormal middle ear functions, and only 19% had sensorineural hearing loss. In conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on increasing the incidence of endolymphatic hydrops.