Is there any medication to improve hearing loss in elderly?

Question

Hello doctor,

My mom is 67 years old. She was exposed to a sudden loud noise from fireworks about a month ago, which caused a loss of hearing of about 50 percent (according to audiometry). She started taking Prednisolone three days after the incident, along with some multivitamin pills, but there has been no improvement yet. Mixed voices or phone calls bother her ears, and she can only tolerate them for a few minutes. I wanted to know if you have any recommendations. Are hearing loss pills effective?

Kindly suggest.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

With age, hearing ability decreases for everyone; this is known as presbycusis in medical terms. Additionally, the loud noise has accelerated the deterioration process. If she is diabetic and hypertensive, those factors will contribute to further deterioration.

Regarding the use of medicines, please be aware that these medications may only provide a 5 percent improvement in hearing, with no significant visible effect. Whether it is a 50 dB (decibel) loss or a 45 dB loss, the problem is almost the same, right? So, without wasting further time, kindly take her report to an audiologist and consider fitting her with digital programmable hearing aids (if both ears are affected, both should be fitted to ensure balanced hearing and activate the hearing areas of the brain on both sides).

I hope this has helped you. Please feel free to reach me again, in case of further queries.

Thank you.