After a few years of testing with lab animals there is evidence to suggest the high possibility that the damage to a person's hearing from loud noise can now be limited by taking a pill. Human trials are now about to commence. The scientists are hoping the new substance will make a difference to the results of a hearing test if dissolved in a drink.
This progress is just a small step towards the creation of a pill that can cure hearing loss due to exposure to loud noise. Due to significant progress the amount of research has increased in recent years.
The pill however, is not a replacement for earplugs and other forms of ear protection. It is intended to provide additional protection from hearing loss because standard protections haven't totally prevented the problem.
The federal government has reported that hearing loss accounts for the second highest reported occupational injuries or illnesses. Hearing loss from long term exposure or the noise from things like explosions affects 10 million Americans.
The number of Americans believed to be at risk from hearing damage due to working in the mining, construction, agriculture and manufacturing industries is said to be in the region of 30 million. Being a musician also means that your are at higher risk.
Occupations are not the only cause of hearing loss. Going to a race track to see a car or motorcycle race or going to the shooting range can also cause considerable damage to your hearing. Earplugs and specialized sound canceling earmuffs do help but don't always prevent damage from occurring.
Unfortunately the current protection is not always effective against all types of sound. Some people are unusually susceptible to hearing loss and many people don't wear the current protection as much as they should. Permanent hearing loss can also occur from sound that is penetrated through the skull and not through the ears themselves.
In the past, scientists have approached the creation of a hearing protecting pill in a few different ways. Researchers in Israel reported in 1994 that military personnel, who received magnesium supplements as part of their diet, were able to avoid any damage to their hearing during their basic training. Antioxidants are the focus of a lot of today's research.
This is because the force of the sound waves is not always directly responsible for the damage to the inner ear. Damage can be caused by free radicals that the inner ear produces after having been exposed to high volumes.
The neutralization of free radicals by antioxidants occurs naturally in the ear. There can be too many free radicals produced from excessive loud noise for the antioxidants to be able to neutralize. The damage caused by the free radicals kills the ear's sound receptor cells that are responsible for converting sound wave into electrical nerve impulses. Once the cells have died, the hearing will be eroded permanently.
The effects or hearing loss could be minimized by increasing the level of antioxidants present in the ear's natural defenses, either before or after the hearing loss has occurred. The method of prevention has shown promising results in animal experiments. The effectiveness of using antioxidants with humans is still approached with caution by some experts. To determine the effectiveness of the antioxidants on humans, more animal tests are needed with varying sound levels and doses.
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