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Published: Sep 16, 2005 01:41 PM
Sun - October 12, 2003
Now Hear This: New Pill May Prevent Hearing Loss
Teenagers at rock concerts may soon be
popping pills—with their parents' approval.
Rock
music, leaf blowers, and jet aircraft all can damage your hearing. But what
if you could take a pill to prevent hearing loss? That's the promise
of new research by the Naval Medical Center of San Diego, which claims that
antioxidants can ease the effects of prolonged exposure to loud
noises.
Continous noise levels of 85 dB—the sound level of heavy road traffic—can cause hearing damage, while rock concerts almost always reach 110-120 dB.
Continous noise levels of 85 dB—the sound level of heavy road traffic—can cause hearing damage, while rock concerts almost always reach 110-120 dB.
- ... [L]oud noise doesn't always damage the delicate inner ear immediately just by brute force. Rather, in most cases it provokes the inner ear into making harmful oxygen molecules called free radicals. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, and the ear naturally has such defenses. But with enough noise, the ear's antioxidants are overwhelmed.
In that case, damage from the free radicals leads to death of the ear's sound receptors — hair cells, which convert the mechanical energy of incoming sound waves into nerve messages to the brain. As hair cells die off, hearing erodes permanently ...
[The pill] not only neutralizes free radicals but also bolsters the ear's own antioxidant defenses ... [I]t has reduced hearing loss when given before or right after exposure to loud noise. Translated to humans, the effect could mean the difference between needing a hearing aid or not ...