Anyone who has ever been to a concert or nightclub knows well the sensation of ringing ears. There are those who experience temporary or even permanent hearing loss. Or those who experience drastic changes in the perception of sound even after moving away from loud noises.
Noise and hearing loss
Now a study conducted by Thanos Tzounopoulos, director of the Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, discovered a molecular mechanism behind noise-induced hearing loss and showed that it is possible to mitigate its effects with drugs. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that noise-induced hearing loss results from cellular damage in the inner ear associated with excess floating zinc, a mineral essential for proper function. cell phone and hearing. Experiments on mice have shown that certain compounds, which function like molecular sponges, trap excess zinc and can thus help restore lost hearing. Or, if given before exposure to loud sounds, they can protect against hearing loss.
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The cause
“Noise-induced hearing loss harms millions of lives, but because the biology of hearing loss is not fully understood, preventing it is an ongoing challenge,” explains Tzounopoulos. While some experience noise-induced hearing loss following acute trauma to the ear, others notice a sudden decline in hearing after being exposed to loud noises for long periods of time, such as on a battlefield or on a construction site. Others notice worsening of hearing after attending a musical performance.
“It should be noted that recently, even in young people, exposure to loud music has led to a clear increase in sensorineural hearing loss due to acoustic damage”, he reports Stefano Di Girolamofull professor and director of the Otolaryngology Clinic of the Tor Vergata Polyclinic.
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A debilitating disorder
Researchers say noise-induced hearing loss can be debilitating. Some people begin to hear sounds that aren’t there, developing a condition called tinnitus, which seriously affects a person’s quality of life. “The damage caused by noise to the ear has been known for many years,” explains Di Girolamo. “There are many studies in the literature that try to understand how damage is actually created at the level of the internal hair cells, which are the sensors that transform the mechanical energy of sound into bioelectric energy that is brought to the brain”, he adds.
Research on drugs and treatments
Tzounopoulos’ research, which focuses on the biology of hearing, tinnitus and hearing loss, sought to determine the mechanistic basis of the condition in an effort to lay the foundation for the future development of effective, minimally invasive treatments. By performing experiments on mice and isolated inner ear cells, the researchers found that a few hours after the animals were exposed to loud noise, the inner ear zinc level increased. In particular, exposure to loud sound causes a strong release of zinc into the extra- and intracellular space which ultimately leads to cell damage and disrupts normal cell-cell communication.
The discovery: the role of zinc
This discovery opens the door to a possible solution. Experiments have shown that mice treated with a slow-release compound that traps excess free zinc are less prone to hearing loss and are protected from noise-induced damage. Researchers are currently developing a treatment to test in preclinical studies with the goal of making it available as a simple over-the-counter option to protect against hearing loss. It is therefore possible that in the future we will have slow-release pills, drops or implants that trap zinc and which could help prevent or treat damage to the inner ear due to noise trauma.
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“You could go to a concert or go to war and take a pill,” Tzounopoulos says. “Or you could have an accident and the emergency room might have these compounds to give to mitigate the damage,” he adds. “The study is only experimental and in any case it is a path to follow to try to mitigate the noise damage in all the subjects who have been exposed”, concludes Di Girolamo.