Following years of laboratory testing there is now evidence that the damage that loud noise cases to our hearing can be reduced by taking a pill. Human trials are now about to commence. If all goes well, evidence will show that the new substance when dissolved in a drink can make a difference to the results of a hearing test.
This is just a small part of masses of ongoing research hoping to finally be able to provide a cure for sufferers of hearing loss due to the damage caused by loud noise. This research has been going on for many years but more recently more progress has been made so efforts have increased significantly.
Current ear protection devices and ear plugs are not going to be replaced by this new pill. But instead, to provide additional protection because the standard protections available have not managed to completely eradicate hearing loss.
The federal government has warned that hearing loss is the second most commonly reported occupational hazard. Hearing loss from long term exposure or the noise from things like explosions affects 10 million Americans.
It is estimated that 30 million people are exposed to dangerous levels of noise from work including construction, mining, agriculture and manufacturing. Professional musicians must also take care not to permanently damage their hearing.
The problem is not caused only in the workplace. Many hobbies including recreational riffle shooting, race car driving and snowmobiles also have a high risk of causing hearing loss. Specialized noise canceling headphones and earplugs do help but do not prevent all hearing damage.
You could be at risk even when wearing the protection due to certain sounds. Not everyone wears them as often as they should and some people can be unusually susceptible to hearing damage than others. Hearing damage can also occur when certain sounds are able to penetrate the skull and other areas of the head.
Different approaches in the past have been made to try to create an ear strengthening pill. Israeli researchers in 1994 reported that military personnel on basic training were able to avoid hearing loss due to magnesium supplements in their diet. Chemicals known as antioxidants which are found in vitamins E and C are the focus of most modern research.
The reason why this research is popular is because scientists now know that the force of loud noise is not necessarily responsible for the damage to our ears. A lot of damage is actually caused by free radical molecules that the ear produces after being exposed to high levels of sounds.
The ear can defend itself from free radicals by producing antioxidants to neutralize them. Extended periods of loud noise means that too many free radicals are present for the antioxidants to be able to neutralize. Free radicals eventually kill off the hair shaped receptor cells in the ear that convert sound waves to nerve signals that should be sent to the brain. The damage to the hearing once these cells have died is permanent.
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. So far, the experiments with lab animals have yielded promising results in preventing permanent hearing loss. The effectiveness of using antioxidants with humans is still approached with caution by some experts. To indicate the effectiveness of the antioxidant method will be on humans further trials are needed with animals with different sounds and doses of the antioxidant.
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