California Researchers Study Long COVID, Hearing, and Brain Fog

Researchers at California State University, Sacramento are studying cognitive, hearing and communication problems reported by people with long COVID. They are adapting approaches used for brain injury and auditory-processing difficulties, but the work is preliminary and does not establish an effective treatment.

Long COVID can involve symptoms persisting months or years after an initial infection. The article mentions fatigue, brain fog, memory difficulties, dizziness and changes in taste or smell among more than 200 reported symptoms. Such symptoms can disrupt work and communication.

Early study and treatment approach

Associate Professor Lisa D'Angelo of communication sciences and disorders and Assistant Professor Soumya Venkita Krishnan of audiology are studying how these symptoms relate to COVID-19 and whether training can help. The article reports that 10 to 15 people who described brain fog after infection had joined a preliminary study.

Participants completed a questionnaire about infection and persistent symptoms, hearing tests, and cognitive and communication assessments. In one task, they listened to words or sentences and repeated them to help assess speech and listening. D'Angelo described training the brain to form new connections through repeated practice and use of skills in daily life.

The researchers said some participants had improved cognitive-assessment scores and called the early results encouraging. The article does not describe a control group or provide enough data to determine treatment efficacy. They hope to expand the research and may use brain imaging to examine changes before and after training.

Original report: The Hearing Review.