Sudden onset sensorineural hearing loss — sometimes referred to as sudden deafness — occurs in anywhere from 11 to 77 per 100,000 people per year in the U.S.
There have been a handful of case reports of COVID-19 patients having such hearing loss, including a report in BMJ. But as more COVID-19 vaccines become available, there are a small but growing number of reports of vaccinated individuals reporting sudden hearing loss — 14 reports among nearly 31,000 entries (or 0.05%) in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
A Phase 1 clinical trial for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine included a 21-year-old who experienced sudden hearing loss 34 days after vaccination. Neither the investigator nor Johnson & Johnson concluded that the event was linked to the vaccine.
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