{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,24]],"date-time":"2025-11-24T11:25:05Z","timestamp":1763983505540,"version":"3.45.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,22]],"date-time":"2025-11-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763769600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Labyrinthitis is an inflammatory inner ear disorder often resulting in acute vertigo and hearing loss. While typically self-limiting, some cases lead to persistent deficits. This study examined incidence trends of acute labyrinthitis before and after 2020 and compared hearing outcomes between these periods. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 126 patients diagnosed with acute labyrinthitis at a tertiary medical center between January 2014 and May 2024. Patients were divided into pre-2020 (2014\u20132019) and post-2020 (2020\u20132024) cohorts. Poisson regression analyzed incidence trends, while audiometric outcomes were compared in 79 patients with complete 3-month follow-up data. Hearing recovery was assessed using pure-tone averages (PTA) across 500\u20134000 Hz, and predictors of persistent impairment were identified through multivariable logistic regression. Results: The cohort had a mean age of 47.8 years with female predominance (63.5%). Annual case counts increased significantly post-2020 (19.8 vs. 6.5 cases\/year; CRR 3.05, 95% CI 2.07\u20134.57, p &lt; 0.001). Substantial hearing improvement occurred across all frequencies (median AC improvement 13.8 dB). Hearing recovery was comparable between periods, with similar PTA improvements (\u221216.7 vs. \u221215.3 dB, p = 0.73) and equivalent distributions across World Health Organization (WHO) hearing categories (p = 0.64). Baseline hearing level was the strongest predictor of persistent impairment (OR 1.56 per 5 dB increase, 95% CI 1.25\u20131.95, p &lt; 0.001), while age, sex, and diagnostic period showed no significant association. Among post-2020 patients, only 12.6% had confirmed coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), and no reliable association with hearing outcomes could be established due to substantial missing data. Conclusions: A significant increase in hospital-diagnosed labyrinthitis cases occurred following 2020, yet hearing outcomes at 3-month follow-up remained consistent with the pre-pandemic period. Baseline hearing level was the primary determinant of recovery, unaffected by demographic factors or diagnostic period. These findings suggest that while pandemic-related factors may have influenced case frequency, they did not alter auditory prognosis or recovery patterns.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina61122083","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,24]],"date-time":"2025-11-24T10:24:17Z","timestamp":1763979857000},"page":"2083","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Comparison of Audiometric Outcomes Following Acute Labyrinthitis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"61","author":[{"given":"Lara","family":"Dreu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska Ulica 8, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maja","family":"Gabor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska Ulica 8, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7872-586X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Petra","family":"Povalej Br\u017ean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska Ulica 8, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Koroska Cesta 46, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5941-6057","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janez","family":"Rebol","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska Ulica 8, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia"},{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Centre Maribor, Ljubljanska Ulica 5, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Barkwill, D., Winters, R., and Arora, R. 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