Hearing loss is a common problem that impacts quality of life for the patient, family members, and caretakers. Unfortunately, hearing loss is often undiagnosed and untreated. The inevitable deterioration in hearing ability that occurs with age --also known as presbycusis -- has many causes and can vary in severity from mild to substantial. Left untreated, hearing loss of a moderate or greater degree affects communication and can contribute to isolation, depression, and, possibly, loss in cognitive decline. Vision and hearing loss share a number of common risk factors, including aging, cigarette smoking, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and diabetes. Therefore, it appears that vision and hearing loss are potentially influenced by diet and lifestyle factors. Diabetics have a much higher risk of developing hearing loss as are nondiabetics which indicates high blood sugar levels to be a potential factor.

Subscribe to a FREE Supplement Research Update newsletter. Twice a month you will receive an email on several studies on various supplements and natural medicine topics, including hearing loss and natural treatment, and their practical interpretation by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Folic acid and hearing loss
Folic acid supplementation appears to slow the hearing loss that commonly occurs with age, at least in people with high levels of the amino acid homocysteine. Previous reports have linked low folate levels with poor hearing, but it was unclear if administration of the vitamin could slow age-related hearing loss. To investigate, Dr. Jane Durga, from the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland assessed changes in hearing among 728 subjects, between 50 and 70 years of age, who were randomized to receive folate (800 micrograms) or inactive placebo daily for 3 years. Because there is evidence that folate may improve hearing by lowering plasma homocysteine levels, the researchers excluded subjects who had low homocysteine levels at the start of the study. At 3 years, the threshold for low frequency hearing increased by 1.0 dB in the folate group, significantly less than the increase noted in the control group. By contrast, high frequency auditory acuity worsened by a similar extent in each group, the researchers found. Whether the current findings are applicable to subjects in the US is unclear since at the time of the study, folate fortification of foods was prohibited in the Netherlands and, as a result, the subjects had baseline folate levels that were about half of those typically seen in the US population. Archives of Internal Medicine January 2, 2007.

Antioxidants for noise induced hearing loss
In experiments with guinea pigs, a combination of antioxidants -- vitamins A, C and E, plus Magnesium -- seemed to protect the animals from noise-induced hearing loss. Dr. Colleen G. Le Prell, a researcher at the University of Michigan Hearing Research Institute in Ann Arbor, exposed guinea pigs to the decibel equivalent of a jet engine at take-off. One hour before the noise exposure and once-daily for 5 days after, the animals were given either the vitamin-magnesium combination, just one of the nutrients or a placebo supplement. In the end, animals given the antioxidant combo showed less hearing loss than the other groups did. Free Radical Biology & Medicine, May 1, 2007.

Vitamin E and vitamin C in the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
Acta Otolaryngol. 2007 Aug 22;:1-6. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kouseiren Takaoka Hospital, Takaoka, Japan.
The results of this study suggest that the administration of vitamin E and vitamin C to patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing losshas beneficial effects by reducing the level of reactive oxygen metabolites produced by inner ear ischaemia and reperfusion injury after treatment. In a retrospective chart review, a total of 87 patients were enrolled who fulfilled the following inclusion criteria: 1) sudden onset of sensorineural hearing loss, 2) cause of hearing loss unknown, 3) hearing loss did not fluctuate, 4) arithmetic mean of hearing levels at 250, 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz exceeded 40 dB and 5) treatment was started within 14 days from the onset of hearing loss. All the patients were treated with steroids and/or alprostadil. In the study group, patients additionally received vitamin E (tocopherol nicotinate, 600 mg/day) and vitamin C (1200 mg/day) orally. Results. The hearing gain after therapy was 29 dB and the improvement rate was 63% in the study group, compared with 18 dB and 44% in the control group.

Alcohol may cause hearing loss
Alcohol seems to temporarily drain a person's hearing -- particularly when it comes to discerning the sounds of conversation.  The more a person drinks, the greater the deterioration in hearing at least in the short term. The hearing loss tends to be more significant in older people, as well as those who said they had a history of heavy drinking.
It's not clear why drinking may have this effect, but alcohol could either damage the auditory nerves or affect the brain's processing of sound. The hearing loss from alcohol consumption is short-lived. However, it's possible that regular drinking could alter people's hearing over time and cause hearing loss.

Drugs that Cause Hearing Loss
Long term use of high doses of aspirin and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAID could cause hearing loss.
   Two major classes of drugs currently in clinical use can cause permanent hearing loss. Aminoglycoside antibiotics have a major role in the treatment of life-threatening infections and platinum-based chemotherapeutic agents (for instance cisplatin) are highly effective in the treatment of malignant disease. Both damage the hair cells of the inner ear, resulting in functional deficits. The mechanisms underlying these troublesome side effects are thought to involve the production of reactive oxygen species in the cochlea, which can trigger cell-death pathways. One strategy to protect the inner ear from ototoxicity is the administration of antioxidant supplements.

Progestin and Hearing Loss
Progestin, as a component of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) following menopause, appears to exacerbate deficits in hearing sensitivity and auditory speech processing. Sensory declines in elderly women, exacerbated by progestin, can significantly interfere with communication abilities, including speech and hearing, professional and economic productivity, family relations, and quality of life. Proceedings of the  National Academy of Sciences, Sept 2006.

Noise Related Hearing Loss
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the leading occupational disease and a major contributor to the development of age-related hearing loss. Noise-induced hearing loss is caused by sounds ranging from 120 to 150 decibels. Motorcycles, firecrackers and guns emit sounds in that range, according to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders in the United States. Heavy city traffic noise can be about 85 decibels. Noise measuring less than 80 decibels, even after long exposure, is unlikely to cause hearing problems. Loud noise is an attributable cause, at least in part, in about one third of the 28 million Americans who have some degree of hearing loss.

Attitude about Aging and hearing loss
Seniors who think hearing loss is just a part of growing old, along with other age-related stereotypes, may end up boosting their odds for poor hearing in their "golden years." A person's negative stereotypes about the elderly can have real consequences for personal health as he or she ages. People who have a more negative stereotype about the elderly -- that old age means senility or being feeble, for example -- perform worse on hearing assessment tests.
   The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is rising because of an aging population and the growing use of personal listening devices. Hearing loss is common among people 70 and older. But hearing loss also affected 8 percent of those in their 20s and 17 percent of people in their 30s. Exposure to workplace noise, firearms, and loud music are all risk factors.

Hearing Aids
There are several hearing aid treatment options, Including monaural or binaural fitting, with many sizes and styles, circuitry and feature options.

Genetics and Hearing Loss
Three genes may explain why some people exposed to loud noise suffer hearing loss. The genes, discovered by Professor Guy Van Camp and researchers at the University of Antwerp, are involved in the recycling of potassium in the inner ear, which is essential for normal hearing. Van Camp found the genes while studying more than 1,000 men who had been exposed to loud noise while working in paper pulp mills and steel factories in Sweden. Nearly 80 percent had been subjected to noise for at least 20 years. After testing the men's hearing, the scientists did a genetic analysis of the 10 percent of men who were most sensitive to noise and an equal number who were the most resistant. "Significant differences between the susceptible and resistant workers were found in the sequence of three genes KCNE1, KCNQ1 and KCNQ4," said Van Camp who reported the findings in the journal Human Mutations. Further studies of KCNE1 show the version of the gene associated with increased risk to noise causes the encoded ion channel to open more rapidly than the normal version. The defect could make people more sensitive to noise.

Hearing Loss Research Update
Around the world, inexpensive antibiotics known as aminoglycosides have been used for the past 60 years in the battles against acute infections and tuberculosis, as antibacterial prophylaxis in cystic fibrosis and other patients, and in and other conditions. But these drugs also have been widely linked to irreversible hearing loss. Researchers at the University of Michigan's Kresge Hearing Research Institute and their Chinese colleagues, working under the leadership of Jochen Schacht, PhD, and Su-Hua Sha, MD, have found that the hearing loss can be prevented in many people with the use of aspirin. The results appear in the April 27, 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers studied 195 patients in China who received 80 to 160 milligrams of gentamicin (a type of aminoglycoside) intravenously twice daily, typically for five to seven days. Of those, 89 patients were given aspirin along with the antibiotic, and 106 were given placebos along with the antibiotic. The results were dramatic: The incidence of hearing loss in the group that was given placebos was 13%, while in the aspirin group it was just 3%.
   Dr. Sahelian comments: This is not what I expected. I had the impression that aspirin could damage hearing, but perhaps only in high doses.
   Email received November, 2006 - A comment regarding your coverage of our clinical trials on gentamicin and aspirin on your hearing loss web page: Yes, aspirin at high dose can cause hearing loss (temporary threshold elevations) and tinnitus. But these side effects are reversible and will disappear when aspirin is stopped. Dr. Jochen Schacht, Professor and Director, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI.

Hearing Loss questions
Q. I have taken quercetin and after a couple of days the tinnitus in my ear increases in volume. I also understand that tinnitus can also be a sign of hearing loss. Can quercetin cause hearing loss? or worsen one's tinnitus ?
    A. We have come across no such research regarding quercetin and tinnitus or hearing loss, so we can't really say.

Q. My question: I see so many different supplements and nutrients for improving and maintaining good eyesight, and I see that they even seem to help relatively older adults whose sight might have decreased somewhat. But are there nutrients or supplements to improve and/or maintain healthy hearing, especially well into middle to late adulthood? I've seen my parents', more so my father's hearing apparently decrease somewhat now that they're in middle age; I don't want that for myself, plus I'd like to help them out a bit (they could also use some eye supplements but that's another story...) So are there ways to use nutrition and/or herbal medicine for healthy hearing, or is decline simply inevitable?
   A. There probably are some herbs or supplements that could help hearing but thus far I have mostly focused on vision and have not spent much time searching for hearing improvement, but when I have time I will look into it finding herbs for hearing loss. Folic acid may be a possible nutrient helpful in reducing the risk for hearing loss.

Q. Do you think alpha lipoic acid would help with hearing loss?
   A. I don't know.

Q. Is there any role for rasagiline or selegiline in preventing or slowing the progression of sensorineural hearing loss (presbyacusis)? Is there anything else that might help?
   A. All the info we have about hearing loss is listed on this page. We will update this hearing loss page as we come across more research.

Q. Do you know of any nutrients that reverse nerve deafness leading to hearing loss?
   A. We are not aware of any at this time.

Hearing Loss Treatment