{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,19]],"date-time":"2026-01-19T08:03:02Z","timestamp":1768809782819,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,7]],"date-time":"2022-03-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1646611200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009882","name":"Regione Lombardia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["DGR n. XI\/3017"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DGR n. XI\/3017"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009882","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001961","name":"AXA Research Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001961","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010661","name":"Horizon 2020 Framework Programme","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010661","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Although a direct relationship between tinnitus or hearing difficulties and COVID-19 has been suggested, current literature provides inconsistent results, and no research has been undertaken in older adults.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In November 2020, we conducted the LOST in Lombardia survey, a telephone-based cross-sectional study on a sample of 4,400 individuals representative of the general population aged \u226565 years from Lombardy region, Northern Italy. Individuals with diagnosed tinnitus and\/or hearing loss were asked whether their conditions had improved or deteriorated in 2020 compared to 2019.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Overall, 8.1% of older adults reported a diagnosis of tinnitus and 10.5% of hearing loss. In 2020 compared to 2019, among individuals with tinnitus, those with increasing severity (5.0%) were similar to those decreasing it (5.3%). Among individuals with hearing loss, more people reported an increase (13.6%) than a decrease (3.2%) in their disease severity. No individual with a diagnosis in 2020 of tinnitus (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 6) or hearing loss (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 13) had COVID-19. The incidence of tinnitus was lower in 2020 (rate: 14.8 per 10,000 person-years) than in previous years (rate in 1990\u20132019: 36.0 per 10,000 person-years; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.026). There was no change in the incidence of hearing loss (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.134).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this large representative sample of older adults, on average neither COVID-19 confinement nor SARS-CoV-2 infection appeared to increase the severity or incidence of tinnitus. The increased severity of hearing difficulties may totally or partially be explained by physiologic deterioration of the condition, or by a misperception due to the use of face-masks.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2022.838291","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,17]],"date-time":"2022-06-17T18:16:12Z","timestamp":1655489772000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["The Impact of COVID-19 Confinement on Tinnitus and Hearing Loss in Older Adults: Data From the LOST in Lombardia Study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Carlotta 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