Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss after COVID-19 vaccination: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: To provide pooled analyses on the association between COVID-19 vaccine and the incidence of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). Data sources: “Medline” via “PubMed”, “EMBASE”, and “Google scholar”. Review methods: Data sources were inspected from January 2020 to January 2024 using search terms relevant to vaccines for COVID-19. Included were papers with reported numbers of vaccinated populations and incidence if ISSNHL in those populations. Quality assessment was performed with the Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale Criteria. Results: Three publications encompassing more than 191.8 million patients and at least 283 million vaccine doses were included in the quantitative data synthesis. The pooled reported incidence (95%confidence interval) of ISSNHL among COVID-19 vaccine recipients was 1.2588 per 100,000 (0.1385–3.4836). This incidence is significantly lower than the incidence of 5–27 and 60 per 100,000/year reported in the United States and in the European Union, respectively (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: There is no evidence to indicate that the COVID-19 vaccine is associated with the incidence of ISSNHL.