For a lot of people who enjoy gigs, concerts and other loud experiences, the idea of losing your hearing can be a major worry. Everyone wants to ensure they have perfect hearing for as long as possible to enjoy the best quality of life. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop doing the things that you love – now it seems that a combination of vitamins and minerals can be taken to negate the damaging effects of loud noise.
Researchers have found a way to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in the environment of a lab, and this could allow them to create a pill that would do the same job for noise-induced and even age-related hearing loss in humans.
In the first study, scientists from University of Michigan gave a pill containing beta-carotene, vitamin C and the mineral magnesium to guinea pigs before exposing them to similar levels of noise that you would hear at a loud gig (around 110 decibels). The pills prevent both temporary and permanent noise-related hearing loss in the guinea pigs when they were given four hours prior to the exposure to the noise.
In the second study, a team of researchers looked at guinea pigs a second time. This time they established that the combination of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and magnesium prevented hearing loss that happens in humans from a single loud noise.
Follow up studies on humans include testing the pill on students who listen to MP3 players, factory workers from loud environments and former military troops. The pleasing results show that the concept is comparable in guinea pigs and humans.
It is only a fairly recent innovation that it was realised that nutrients could alter the effect of loud noises on the ear drum – it had previously been thought that physical ear protection was the only option to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.
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