The underlying foundation of noise-related hearing loss may seem well-understood. After all, the name itself conveys a fairly direct cause-and-effect relationship. 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 accurate, the mechanisms behind that cause have not always been so well understood. That’s improving, thanks to new research into the role of zinc regulation after exposure to loud sounds. This research indicates that there’s a significant connection between zinc and hearing loss.
What is zinc? And how does it affect hearing loss?
Zinc is a common mineral. The majority of people have plenty of zinc in their bodies, carrying out specific and necessary functions. Zinc helps your brain translate chemical signals and is linked to immune system functions. With a few exceptions, most individuals get plenty of zinc from their food every day.
The link between zinc and hearing loss might, at first glance, be difficult to recognize. The relationship between zinc and hearing isn’t, after all, immediately obvious. However, a novel experiment has shed some light on what’s going on.
Researchers exposed mice to loud noises and performed a few analyses afterward. When exposed to loud sounds, the same thing happens to mice as happens to humans: the delicate parts of the ear become damaged. For humans, sound will initially become impermanently muffled. As an individual is continually exposed to loud sound, this damage will become more severe and lasting. This damage can’t be cured in either humans or mice.
Researchers also took blood samples from the mice and observed some fascinating results in terms of free-floating zinc.
Is hearing loss caused or helped by zinc?
Scientists now have a greater understanding of how the symptoms of noise-induced hearing loss occur because of these results. Usually, when zinc is in the body, it’s bound molecularly. During the experiment, researchers noticed that zinc became free-floating when the ears were exposed to loud noises and sound-induced stresses. It’s likely the same thing happens in humans.
This zinc de-regulation ends up doing cellular damage to the inner ear, especially to the parts of the inner ear responsible for clear hearing. This is the mechanism that scientists now think leads to the kind of damage that causes noise-induced hearing loss.
Managing hearing loss
In the future, this kind of understanding may help scientists stop noise-related hearing loss from ever happening, even in those individuals who are often subjected to loud noises. However, it might be some time before those advancements become a viable reality. But that doesn’t mean your ears can’t be protected.
So, you might be asking: how can I prevent noise-induced hearing loss?
There are several approaches you may employ to safeguard your ears:
- Wear hearing protection: Ear muffs and ear plugs can help your ears cope with loud environments that you can’t, or don’t want to stay away from. A set of earplugs can, for instance, allow you to attend that loud concert and still be able to hear the music but also offer some protection against permanent hearing loss.
- Routinely check in with your hearing specialist: Discovering damage as early as possible can help decrease long-term damage, and coming in to see us for a regular hearing test is the best way to do that.
- Limit your exposure to loud noises: Sporting events, concerts, and jet engines come under this category. But most individuals would also be surprised to discover that everyday sounds like chatty offices, traffic, or lawnmowers can also lead to hearing damage.
Understand the causes, protect your ears
Can noise-induced hearing loss be cured? Regrettably not. This kind of hearing loss and tinnitus can’t be cured, though it can be managed very successfully. Better understanding the causes of hearing loss and the mechanisms by which hearing loss functions can help hearing specialists (and you) formulate better strategies and treatments designed to keep your hearing safe.
Even though this research is promising, we still have a ways to go. But we appear to be getting closer to understanding. On a personal level, it’s important to take steps to safeguard your hearing and check in with your hearing specialist.