It might seem as if the causes of noise-induced hearing loss are functionally well-established. A fairly obvious cause-and-effect relationship is suggested by the name, after all. Our basic understanding is that permanent hearing damage is caused by exposure to overly loud noise over a long period of time.
And while that’s relevant, the mechanisms underpinning that cause haven’t always been so well established. That’s improving, thanks to new research into the role of zinc management after exposure to loud noises. This research reveals that there’s an important connection between zinc and hearing loss.
What is zinc? And how does it affect hearing impairment?
Zinc is a commonplace mineral. The majority of people have plenty of zinc in their bodies, performing specific and essential functions. Zinc helps your brain interpret chemical signals and is connected to immune system functions. In most cases, a person’s diet supplies plenty of zinc.
At first glance, it may be difficult to see the relationship between hearing loss and zinc. After all, it isn’t instantly clear what role zinc plays in your hearing. A new experiment has begun to expose what’s going on, however.
Researchers exposed mice to loud sounds and carried out a few analyses afterward. When exposed to loud sounds, the same thing happens to mice as happens to humans: the sensitive parts of the ear are damaged. In humans, this may first be encountered as a temporary muffling of sound. As an individual is continually exposed to loud sound, this damage will become more extreme and lasting. This damage can’t be cured in either humans or mice.
After taking some blood samples from the mice, some intriguing results in terms of free-floating zinc were revealed.
Does zinc help or cause hearing loss?
Because of this result, scientists now better understand how noise-related hearing loss symptoms occur. Usually, zinc in the body is molecularly bound. Researchers discovered zinc in free-floating form when the experiment’s mice were subjected to loud noise. Zinc most likely responds the same way in humans.
The free-floating zinc triggers damage to delicate portions of the inner ear that are essential in order to hear clearly. This is the mechanism that scientists now believe results in the kind of damage that causes noise-related hearing loss.
How to treat hearing loss
In the future, this kind of understanding might help scientists stop noise-related hearing loss from ever happening, even in those individuals who are often exposed to loud noises. However, it may be some time before those developments become a viable reality. But there are still other ways to protect your ears.
So, how can you protect yourself from noise-related hearing loss?
There are a number of strategies you may use to safeguard your ears:
- Regularly check in with your hearing specialist: Detecting damage as early as possible can help decrease long-term damage, and coming in to see us for a routine hearing test is the best way to do that.
- Wear ear protection: If there are noisy environments you want to be in, or merely can’t stay away from, ear plugs and ear muffs can help decrease the damage. A set of earplugs can, for instance, allow you to go to that loud concert and still be able to hear the music but also offer some protection against irreversible hearing loss.
- Limit your exposure to loud sounds: Sporting events, concerts, and jet engines come under this category. But there are some more commonplace noises that can cause hearing loss that might be surprising, and that includes things like a leaf blower, traffic, or people talking loudly in a bustling office.
Safeguard your ears by understanding causes
Can noise-induced hearing loss be cured? Unfortunately not. This type of hearing loss and tinnitus can’t be cured, though it can be managed quite successfully. Strategies developed to keep your hearing safe will be more successful the better you understand the mechanisms behind hearing loss.
Even though this research is encouraging, we still have a ways to go. But we seem to be getting closer to understanding. On a personal level, it’s crucial to take measures to safeguard your hearing and check in with your hearing specialist.