The underlying foundation of noise-related hearing loss may seem well-understood. After all, the name itself suggests a fairly direct cause-and-effect relationship. The universal understanding is simply that loud noises damage the hearing mechanisms in the ear, resulting in long-term and permanent hearing loss.
Though we’ve recognized this for some time now, we haven’t perfectly understood the inherent mechanisms behind it. That’s changing, thanks to emerging research into the role of zinc management after exposure to loud sounds. This research suggests that there’s an important link between zinc and hearing loss.
What is zinc? And how does it affect hearing loss?
Zinc is a mineral needed for carrying out necessary bodily functions and most people have plenty of it. Zinc helps your brain translate chemical signals and is connected to immune system functions. In most cases, a person’s diet supplies plenty of zinc.
At first, it might be difficult to determine the connection between hearing loss and zinc. After all, it’s not 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 noises and performed 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. For humans, sound will initially become impermanently muffled. As an individual is continually exposed to loud noise, this damage will become more extreme and lasting. In both mice and humans, the body is not able to heal or repair this damage.
After taking some blood samples from the mice, some intriguing results in terms of free-floating zinc were revealed.
Is hearing loss caused or helped by zinc?
Because of this result, scientists now better understand how noise-induced hearing loss symptoms occur. Normally, when zinc is in the body, it’s bound molecularly. During the experiment, researchers observed that zinc became free-floating after 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. Scientists are now thinking that this is one of the mechanisms that causes hearing damage due to noise exposure.
How to treat hearing loss
In the future, this type of understanding may help scientists prevent noise-related hearing loss from ever occurring, even in those people who are often exposed to loud noises. Unfortunately, these developments are likely still some ways off. But there are still other ways to protect your ears.
So, how can you protect yourself from noise-induced hearing loss?
There are a number of strategies you can use to safeguard your ears:
- Consistently check in with your hearing specialist: Getting a hearing test (and routinely checking in with us) can help detect damage early.
- Wear ear protection: If there are noisy environments you want to be in, or simply can’t stay away from, ear plugs and ear muffs can help lessen the damage. If you go to that concert, for example, use a set of ear plugs to ensure you can still hear, but that your ears don’t become permanently damaged as a consequence.
- Regulate your exposure to loud sounds: This clearly includes noises such as jet engines, concerts, or sporting events. But there are some more commonplace noises that can cause hearing loss that might be surprising, including things like a leaf blower, traffic, or individuals speaking loudly in a busy office.
Protect your ears by understanding causes
Can noise-induced hearing loss be cured? Sadly no. Though you can effectively manage this type of hearing loss and any related tinnitus, it can’t be cured. Better understanding the causes of hearing loss and the mechanisms by which hearing loss functions can help hearing specialists (and you) develop better techniques and treatments tailored to keep your hearing safe.
This research is most likely just the first step in a longer process. But every bit helps. On an individual level, it’s essential to take measures to protect your hearing and check in with your hearing specialist.