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Loud sounds impair hearing: how to avoid it?
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
According to world statistics, hundreds of millions of patients currently suffer from various hearing disorders. Some people have congenital hearing problems, while others have lost their hearing as a result of frequent or prolonged exposure to sounds played at high volume. This includes listening to loud music on headphones. American biologists have set themselves the task of helping such patients. As a result, they have developed a unique medicine that creates protection for the hearing organs.
As scientists explain, specific hair structures located inside the organ of hearing catch sound vibrations and at that moment produce glutamate, a chemical substance that helps transmit sound impulses to the brain.
What causes hearing loss? Under the influence of excessive noise, people greatly increase their production of glutamate. As a result, the function of the hair structures is sharply disrupted, which becomes the trigger for the reduction of hearing function.
It was then discovered experimentally that some cells involved in transporting sound impulses to the brain lack the protein substance GluA2. It turns out that these cells help calcium ions penetrate into the inner ear and provoke disturbances in it. Having tracked this process, specialists worked on creating a substance capable of blocking receptors that do not have the protein GluA2. Presumably, this substance should help preserve hearing.
The next step for the researchers was to conduct laboratory tests on rodents. The results of the tests were as follows: the new agent really protected the inner ear from the destructive effect of calcium ions. At the same time, cells containing the GluA2 protein continued to successfully transmit sound vibrations to the brain. It turns out that the created substance is capable of protecting people's hearing even under the influence of loud sounds, without the risk of its deterioration.
True, before mass production of such a drug and its introduction into the market, many more work stages should be carried out. The first stage should be a practical test involving real people, since the first experiments were conducted on rodents. The second stage is the improvement of the new drug. During the studies, it was introduced into the inner ear surgically, which is not at all convenient and is not suitable for clinical practice. Therefore, scientists will have to think about creating a drug in the form of ear drops. How much time will pass from the moment the drug is created until its practical use is possible is unknown. Most likely, scientists will need several years. In the meantime, it is necessary to protect the ears with more accessible means - for example, avoid excessive noise, and, if necessary, use special "earplugs".