Noise-induced hearing loss, caused by overexposure to high levels of noise, is prevalent in about 26 million American adults. Avoiding noises that are ‘too loud’ and wearing earplugs or other hearing protective devices are the only options for protecting against noise-induced hearing loss at the moment.
Though drug therapies to prevent hearing damage for noise-induced hearing loss have been proposed, they have not been evaluated on humans for want of an effective method for the needed tests.
Now there’s some good news on the horizon for people needing new options for preventing noise-induced hearing loss, thanks to research from the University of Florida. Researchers have identified a new way to test anti-hearing-loss drugs in people that could soon make these medicines a reality.
The test developed by lead investigator Colleen Le Prell, which meets national safety standards for research in humans, uses controlled music levels to reliably cause low-level, temporary hearing loss in human participants.
The test involved inducing temporary hearing loss in study participants by making them listen to rock or pop music on a digital music player via headphones for four hours at sound levels ranging from 93 decibels to 102 decibels, and their hearing was tested four times after his or her listening session, with follow-up tests one day and one week later.
Note that sounds of less than only 75 decibels are unlikely to cause hearing loss even after long exposure, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
The new test will be employed in two first-of-a-kind clinical trials of therapeutics for the prevention of noise induced hearing loss, which will be monitored by the FDA.
One study is designed to use a dietary supplement called Soundbites, which contains the vitamin A precursor beta carotene, vitamins C and E and the mineral magnesium. In animal studies, Soundbites, manufactured by Hearing health Science Inc., a privately-funded Ann Arbor company, has prevented temporary and permanent hearing loss.
The other study is ongoing, in which the participants take an oral capsule called SPI-1005 produced by Sound Pharmaceuticals Inc.
“There’s a real need for drug solutions to hearing loss,” says Le Prell.
by RTT Staff Writer
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