Is COVID 19 Vaccination linked to Risk of Hearing Loss, explore JAMA studies

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is an acute onset impairment of hearing that may lead to permanent hearing loss and tinnitus. However, little is known about sudden sensorineural hearing loss as a potential adverse event after immunization; existing reports of sudden sensorineural hearing loss occurring after vaccination are rare, and an association has not been established.

Study 1:

Dr Eric J. Formeister and his team conducted a study to examine the potential association between COVID-19 vaccination and SSNHL. In this cross-sectional study and case series, the researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and included 555 VAERS reports of SSNHL. The major outcome assessed was the incidence of reports of SSNHL after COVID-19 vaccination recorded in VAERS and clinical characteristics of adult patients presenting with SSNHL after COVID-19 vaccination.

• Upon analysis, the researchers found that the rate of incident reports of SSNHL was similar across all 3 vaccine manufacturers (0.16 cases per 100 000 doses for both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and 0.22 cases per 100 000 doses for Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine).
• They noted that the estimated incidence range of sudden sensorineural hearing loss after vaccination was 0.6 to 28.0 cases per 100 000 people per year compared with the annual pre-pandemic incidence of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss of 11 to 77 cases per 100 000 people per year.

The authors concluded, "In this cross-sectional study, findings from an updated analysis of VAERS data and a case series of patients who experienced SSNHL after COVID-19 vaccination did not suggest an association between COVID-19 vaccination and an increased incidence of hearing loss compared with the expected incidence in the general population."