The answer seems to be known in advance and yet…
Man is born with a very small contingent of hair cells (cells that allow us to hear): about 15,000. These cells are differentiated very early during embryonic life and any cell damaged during life will not be replaced. However, they and only they ensure the mechano-electrical transduction, i.e. the transformation of the sound vibration into a nervous message that the brain will interpret. We can therefore see how vital the protection of this very small number of cells is.
To give a simplistic comparison, man begins his long life with a car in perfect condition.
Every scratch on the bodywork is permanent. There is no way to repair it.
In what condition will the vehicle end up at the end of its life? Only constant vigilance will limit the damage!
It is the same for our ears. We can draw up a non-exhaustive list of daily aggressions, those we did not want as well as those we asked for.
Environmental noises
Noise of all kinds, work on the public highway, machines backfiring. We are not responsible for these noises, but we are subjected to them at every moment when we walk down a busy street. Today, 7 million people are considered to live in areas of excessive noise (near an airport or a busy road are examples).
Sound sources for which we are responsible
They range from the most anecdotal and least aggressive to the loudest (walkman too loud or worn too long, nightclubs, repeated concerts, shooting, etc.) Since August 2017, discos and festivals must submit to stricter regulations, aimed at “protecting the hearing of the public.” Thus the average sound level, measured over 15 minutes, will no longer be able to exceed 102 decibels. When the target audience is young children, the limit is now set at 94 decibels. The decree also includes prevention measures :
• Inform the public about hearing risks,
• To make hearing protectors available to the public free of charge,
• Create zones of auditory rest in which the sound level does not exceed 80 decibels.
Sound sources at work
2 million people are exposed to noise risks at work.
A number of occupations, listed as being exposed to noise, cause serious nuisance. The administration imposes an upstream treatment, i.e. to take the evil at the root by reducing the noise at the source and by avoiding the propagation of the noise in the premises where one works. In addition to these collective protection measures, individual protection measures are sometimes necessary. A scale of noise pollution has long been established :
• Less than 8 hours of exposure to noise if the sound source is equal to 85dB,
• Less than two hours at 90 dB,
• Less than 15 minutes at 100dB (work with a jackhammer),
• At 115 dB, hearing damage is instantaneous and irreversible.
In all these cases, prevention is known and involves sound protection :
• Collective and possibly individual protection at work (already done),
• Systematic protection in frequented places, exposed to noise, such as concerts, nightclubs or systematic protection at home (DIY, MP3, etc.), rarely practiced.
Beyond these particular cases, it is advisable to wear sound protection as soon as one does not control one’s sound environment, i.e. as soon as one goes out. This is an area of prevention that is totally unknown or ignored.
Drug toxicity
Aminoglycosides (a family of antibiotics) are ototoxic above a certain threshold. These antibiotics should therefore be avoided if possible. Aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, certain anti-cancer drugs (cisplatin), certain anti-malarial drugs and many other drugs can have an ototoxic effect (definitive lesion) all the more easily if the subject has renal insufficiency.
The best treatment is therefore prevention (inform your doctor of a renal insufficiency or a pre-existing hearing impairment).
But what else ?
Antioxidant diets rich in omega 3 are well known:
• Bluefish (tuna, sardines, herring, anchovies, mackerel),
• Seeds (flax, hemp, pumpkin, soy, squash),
• Dried fruits,
• Fresh fruits (and red fruits are the best).
The evolution of medicine allows the development of substances such as neurotrophins that protect the auditory nerves and antiapoptics that prevent cell death. These products can be injected into the inner ear through implantable pumps.
Gene therapy has a promising future. But it will treat or attempt to treat deafness downstream, which is already quite late. The idea is to obtain new functional hair cells from the support cells still present after the death of the sensory cells. This will be done by gene transfer into the inner ear via a bacterium. It could be interesting to slow down an early and progressive presbycusis.
What other factors to prevent the aging of our ear?
The antioxidant diets rich in omega 3 are well known :
• Blue fish (tuna, sardines, herring, anchovies, mackerel)
• Seeds (flax, hemp, pumpkin, soya, squash)
• Dried fruits
• Fresh fruits (and the red ones remain the best)
The evolution of medicine allows the development of substances such as neurotrophins that protect the auditory nerves and antiapoptics that prevent cell death. These products can be injected into the inner ear through implantable pumps.
Gene therapy has a promising future.
But it will treat or attempt to treat deafness downstream, which is already quite late.
The idea is to obtain new functional hair cells from the support cells still present after the death of the sensory cells. This will be done by gene transfer into the inner ear via a bacterium. It could be interesting to slow down an early and progressive presbycusis.
Conclusion
As we can see, it is possible to reduce and slow down old age and the inexorable damage to the inner ear caused by age. However, the treatment is still and above all the permanent prevention against the daily sound aggressions and one must know how to think about it constantly.
Food, protective drugs and even gene therapy are still, nowadays, totally anecdotal.
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