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In today's military, soldier's ears are under constant attack.

In today’s military, soldiers’ ears are under constant attack. Even with external hearing protection, the sounds of warfare can damage the sensitive inner ear, or cochlea, and severely reduce hearing.
But a new drug combination, developed through a collaboration between OMRF and the Hough Ear Institute, has shown promise in reducing hearing loss. The treatment could have both military and civilian applications.

OMRF’s Dr. Robert Floyd, working with Hough CEO Dr. Richard Kopke, found that a combination of two compounds—4-OHPBN nitrone and the drug n-acetyl-cysteine—could stop damage to the inner ear caused by acute acoustic trauma.

“This is a very exciting finding,” says Floyd. “The research is still at a pre-clinical stage, but we’re hopeful that we soon can begin testing in humans.”

Hearing loss is the second most common type of disability among veterans, accounting for more than 75,000 cases. It is also the most common injury for which people are evacuated from a war zone.

Without the medication, prolonged exposure to loud noise can damage and kill hair cells that register sound, causing hearing loss. But in laboratory animals, the hearing loss was almost completely prevented if the drug combination was given within four hours of exposure to noise levels that would otherwise cause acoustic trauma. Significant decreases were also seen if the combination was administered within 24 hours of exposure.

“If this therapy ultimately proves effective,” says Floyd, “it could also have many civilian applications, including combating age-related hearing loss.”