What’s that you say? Antioxidant vitamins may protect against what?

A new report finds that a combination of several antioxidant vitamins–including beta carotene and vitamins C and E–may protect against noise-induced hearing loss. The findings were reported today at the annual conference of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. In one study, researchers at the University of Michigan gave guinea pigs an antioxidant supplement and then exposed them for four hours to sounds at 110 decibels, the equivalent of a loud rock-and-roll concert. The treatment prevented temporary noise-induced hearing loss. A second study found that antioxidant vitamins can prevent permanent damage to cells in the inner ear after a single very loud noise exposure.

Other research has linked damage from free radical oxygen molecules to noise-induced hearing loss. And previous investigations have shown that antioxidants given after animals are exposed to loud noise may protect their ears from subsequent damage.

“I am very encouraged by these results that we may be able to find a way to diminish permanent threshold shift with noise exposure,” said Debara Tucci, MD, a hearing expert at Duke University Medical Center. An estimated 26 million Americans suffer noise-induced hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, which funded the two studies.

Multivitamins typically include a healthy dose of antioxidant vitamins. But even if supplements prove to be helpful in protecting ears, the best prevention will remain avoiding loud noises, keeping the volume level down on MP3 players, and wearing earplugs in settings like rock concerts and around noisy machinery.

For more information about hearing protection, check out H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers).

2009 PDQhealth

Tags: antioxidants, hearing loss