Methods

Participants were 138 adults, who had been admitted to Wythenshawe Hospital, part of the Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK, because of the severity of their COVID-19 symptoms. After discharge from hospital, these patients were reviewed around 8weeks, as per usual care. The review included a detailed clinical history and, in 121 cases, included questions about hearing and/or tinnitus. In all but one of these cases, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed from a nose or throat swab or sputum sample using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) test. In the remaining patient, the swab and sputum sample were both negative but chest radiology was consistent with COVID-19. It is not uncommon for rRT-PCR tests to have false positive or false negative results (Watson, Whiting, and