Injection hope to prevent hearing loss

A SIMPLE treatment may minimise hearing loss triggered by loud noises.

Researchers have worked out how traumatic noise damages hearing, and identified a potential way to preserve it.

It is well known that exposure to extremely loud noises – such as an explosion or even a rock concert – can lead to permanent hearing loss.

And now a study, published in the journal PNAS, has shed light on how noise-induced hearing loss happens and how a simple injection of a salt or sugar-based solution into the middle ear may preserve hearing.

Study author Professor John Oghalai, of The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, said: “The build-up of fluid pressure in the inner ear is something you might notice if you go to a loud concert. Your ears might feel full and you might have ringing in your ears.

“We were able to see that this build-up of fluid correlates with neuron loss”.