Hearing loss refers to the decreased ability to hear sounds. It can range from mild to severe and can be caused by a variety of factors, including aging, exposure to loud noise, certain medical conditions, and hereditary factors. Hearing loss can also be temporary or permanent.
Causes of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss can be caused by a variety of factors, including:
- Aging: As people get older, the hair cells in the inner ear that are responsible for converting sound waves into electrical signals begin to deteriorate, which can lead to age-related hearing loss.
- Noise exposure: Prolonged exposure to loud noise can damage the hair cells in the inner ear, leading to noise-induced hearing loss. This can occur in people who work in loud environments, such as construction sites or factories, or in those who frequently attend loud concerts or use loud personal listening devices.
- Medical conditions: Certain medical conditions, such as ear infections, Meniere’s disease, and otosclerosis (a condition that affects the bone in the middle ear), can lead to hearing loss.
- Medications: Some medications, such as certain antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs, can damage the hair cells in the inner ear and cause hearing loss.
- Hereditary factors: Some cases of hearing loss are inherited and run in families.
- Trauma: Head injury or skull trauma can cause hearing loss.
- Infections: Certain infections, such as meningitis and mumps, can lead to hearing loss.
- Tumors: Noncancerous and cancerous tumors can cause hearing loss if they occur in or near the ear.
It’s important to note that hearing loss can also be caused by a combination of these factors. A visit to an audiologist or an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist can help determine the cause of hearing loss and recommend the appropriate treatment.
Hearing Loss Is Caused by a Common Drug, Why?
Some medications can cause hearing loss as a side effect. This is known as ototoxicity. The mechanism for this is that certain drugs can damage the hair cells in the inner ear, which are responsible for converting sound waves into electrical signals that are sent to the brain.
Some common drugs that have been associated with hearing loss include:
- Certain antibiotics such as aminoglycosides (e.g. gentamicin, kanamycin, and streptomycin) and loop diuretics (e.g. furosemide and ethacrynic acid)
- Chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin
- Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) when taken in high doses or for long periods
- Certain antidepressants and antipsychotics
- High doses of Vitamin A
- Some diuretics, statins, and other medications
It’s important to note that not everyone who takes these medications will experience hearing loss and that the risk of hearing loss from these drugs may depend on the dosage and duration of treatment. If you are experiencing hearing loss or other symptoms that you suspect may be related to your medication, it’s important to talk to your doctor or pharmacist to determine the cause and recommend the appropriate treatment.
Prevention
There are several ways to prevent hearing loss, including:
- Avoiding loud noise: Prolonged exposure to loud noise can damage the hair cells in the inner ear, so it’s important to avoid loud environments or to use hearing protection such as earplugs or noise-canceling headphones.
- Limiting your use of personal listening devices: It’s important to keep the volume at a moderate level and to limit the amount of time you spend listening to music or other audio on personal listening devices such as smartphones or MP3 players.
- Protecting your ears during certain activities: If you participate in activities that may be loud, such as shooting or attending concerts, be sure to use earplugs or other hearing protection.
- Monitoring your medication: Some medications can cause hearing loss, so it’s important to talk to your doctor or pharmacist about the potential side effects of any medications you’re taking.
- Taking care of your overall health: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and managing any medical conditions that could affect your hearing, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, can help preserve your hearing.
- Having regular hearing tests: Regular hearing tests can help detect hearing loss early, allowing for earlier treatment and intervention.
It’s important to note that not all hearing loss can be prevented, but taking steps to protect your hearing can help reduce your risk and preserve your ability to hear over time.
Also, You can stop age-related hearing loss from getting worse and noise-induced hearing loss from getting worse by taking the following actions:
- Keep your ears safe. The best defense is limiting how long and loud you are exposed. Plastic earplugs or glycerin-filled earmuffs can help shield your ears from harmful sounds at work.
- Get your hearing evaluated. If you work in a noisy setting, think about getting frequent hearing tests. You can take action to stop more hearing loss if you’ve already lost some hearing.
- Avoid taking risks for fun. Your hearing can deteriorate over time from activities like snowmobiling, hunting, using power tools, and attending rock concerts. Your ears can be protected by donning hearing protection or taking pauses from the noise. Reduced music loudness is also beneficial.
To identify the proteins present in hair cells, Zhao used biochemical screening. The molecular mechanisms underlying hearing loss are investigated in Zhao’s lab. They initially found that the protein RIPOR2, which is necessary for auditory perception, is coupled with aminoglycosides.
We believe that RIPOR2 is required for aminoglycoside-induced hair cell death because, according to Zhao, aminoglycosides specifically result in a rapid localization change of RIPOR2 in hair cells.
The scientists developed a mouse with normal hearing but significantly lowered RIPOR2 expression in the lab. Zhao stated that the model exhibited neither substantial hair cell death nor hearing loss following treatment with aminoglycosides.
“The autophagy mechanism in hair cells is then controlled by RIPOR2, we discovered later. The first author of the work is Jinan Li, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in the Zhao group. “Knowing this, we created more lab mice without the expression of numerous essential autophagy proteins, and these animals did not exhibit hair cell death or hearing loss when given the antibiotic.,” she said.
According to the study’s authors, the proteins discovered in this study may one day be employed as therapeutic targets to stop the hearing loss caused by aminoglycosides.
Prenatal Cell, 15 September 2022, Jinan Li, Chang Liu, Ulrich Müller, & Bo Zhao, “RIPOR2-mediated autophagy failure is important for aminoglycoside-induced hearing loss.”
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine.
