{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T22:10:25Z","timestamp":1780092625077,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,1]],"date-time":"2022-11-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1667260800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Currently, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causes an acute respiratory illness named COVID-19 and is a controversial risk factor for hearing loss (HL). Herein, we aim to describe the associated symptoms and to evaluate hearing function in the COVID-19 pediatric population. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional observational study was carried out on 37 children who contracted COVID-19 infection with no previous audio-vestibular disorders. Clinical data on the infections were collected, and an audiological assessment of all affected children was performed by using different diagnostic protocols according to their age. Results: Fever, upper respiratory and gastrointestinal manifestations were common presentations of infection. Audiological function was normal in 30 (81.08%) children, while 7 children showed an increased hearing threshold: 6 (16.21%) had transient conductive hearing loss (CHL) due to middle ear effusion and normalized at the follow-up and 1 had sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). A single child was affected by bilateral SNHL (2.7%); however, he underwent a complete audiological work-up leading to a diagnosis of genetic HL due to a MYO6 gene mutation which is causative of progressive or late onset SNHL. Conclusions: HL needs to be considered among the manifestations of COVID-19 in children, nevertheless, we found cases of transient CHL. The onset of HL during or following COVID-19 infection does not eliminate the indication for maintaining audiological surveillance and audiological work-ups, including genetic diagnosis, to avoid the risk of mistaking other causes of HL.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children9111681","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,2]],"date-time":"2022-11-02T06:49:02Z","timestamp":1667371742000},"page":"1681","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["The Absence of Permanent Sensorineural Hearing Loss in a Cohort of Children with SARS-CoV-2 Infection and the Importance of Performing the Audiological \u201cWork-Up\u201d"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2728-339X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rita","family":"Malesci","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1830-3731","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Davide","family":"Rizzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Otolaryngology Division, Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro, 43, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0614-7583","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valeria","family":"Del Vecchio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8086-6362","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicola","family":"Serra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80138 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Tarallo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Domenico","family":"D\u2019Errico","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valentina","family":"Coronella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6261-2772","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Bussu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Otolaryngology Division, Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro, 43, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Lo Vecchio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Pediatrics, Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80138 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1548-7141","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gennaro","family":"Auletta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4392-9739","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Annamaria","family":"Franz\u00e8","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna Rita","family":"Fetoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli, 8, 00168 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30183-5","article-title":"Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China","volume":"395","author":"Huang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"470","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30185-9","article-title":"A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern","volume":"395","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2469","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/ciaa556","article-title":"SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): What do we know about children? A systematic review","volume":"71","author":"Mehta","year":"2020","journal-title":"Clin. Infect. 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