Comprehensive Guide to Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL): Causes, Prevention & Hearing Preservation | Soundbites

Understanding SNHL and Its Impact on the Auditory Sensory Nerve

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) refers to hearing loss caused by damage or dysfunction of the auditory sensory nerve cells. It accounts for over 90% of all hearing loss cases. The inner ear houses about 31,000 auditory nerve cells within the cochlea, a tiny, spiral-shaped structure. These cells, often called hair cells, are essential for converting sound waves into electrical signals that the brain interprets as sound. Damage to these cells disrupts this process, leading to hearing loss.

Preventive care for hearing: Protecting against irreversible SNHL damage

Unlike other cells in our bodies, auditory nerve cells don’t regenerate. Damage to these cells is biochemical, with consequences that extend to neurological health, potentially leading to hearing and cognitive disabilities. Preventive care is crucial in protecting against irreversible SNHL damage. By addressing risk factors early, such as exposure to loud noises and managing chronic conditions, you can help preserve auditory function and maintain overall hearing health, reducing the likelihood of long-term hearing loss.

Role of Free Radicals in Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL)

The emerging science of free radical biology is fundamental in understanding SNHL. Free radicals are oxidative molecules crucial for cellular energy production in the mitochondria, essential for normal cell function. However, their instability can lead to oxidative stress. Antioxidant systems within cells work to neutralize and eliminate free radicals through the bloodstream, preventing them from causing restricted blood flow and potential hearing damage. Understanding this process is key to developing strategies for SNHL prevention and care.

Biological Impact of Hearing Loss: Insights from Auditory Neuroscience"

Decades of auditory neuroscience research have revealed that environmental stress, especially from intense noise, triggers an overproduction of free radicals in the inner ear. This overwhelms the cellular antioxidant systems, leading to toxic molecule buildup that causes cell damage and, ultimately, hearing loss. Understanding hearing loss as a biological disorder emphasizes the importance of protecting the auditory system from environmental stressors to preserve hearing health and prevent irreversible damage.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. Age-related hearing loss, called ARHL, and noise-induced hearing loss, called NIHL, are the two most common types of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), which is hearing loss caused by the death of inner ear nerve cells. Noise is such a dominant form of SNHL that we just call it hearing loss. 

Conventional wisdom is that age-related hearing loss happens to older people, but that is no longer accurate. Age-related hearing loss is rising quickly among children and young adults,  mainly because of more routine and frequent exposure to intense levels of sound and noise.

The root cause of NIHL and ARHL is oxidative stress and restricted inner ear blood flow caused by excess inner ear free radicals. Hearing cells tend to produce additional free radicals as they age, moreso when they are damaged, and noise is the dominant source of that damage. NIHL accelerates ARHL, and the root cause of NIHL and ARHL is the same. 

ARHL now frequently starts in adolescence. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 12.5% of children and adolescents aged 6–19 years (approximately 5.2 million) have already suffered permanent damage to their hearing from excessive exposure to noise. So to describe the reality accurately, it may be appropriate to combine NIHL with ARHl into noise accelerated hearing loss, or NAHL.

No prescription drugs are available for preventing hearing loss. Given what we know about the biology of its root cause, a hearing preservation vaccine is extremely unlikely. Drug development is focused instead on hearing regeneration. Several pharmaceutical candidates are in development, but none are close to being approved.

Yes. Soundbites helps maintain the normal auditory function of hearing cells, regardless of how sound gets to your inner ear, regardless of  the level of your hearing loss. Independent clinical evidence indicates that Soundbites can improve hearing sensitivity within three months of daily use. If you rely on hearing aids, the amplification level of your hearing aids may seem to increase, which indicates improvement in hearing sensitivity. If you are under the care of an audiologist, you may wish to compare the data from your audiograms and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) tests from before and after taking Soundbites.

Independent evidence suggests it’s likely to notice changes in hearing sensitivity within three months of taking Soundbites daily, but keep in mind that hearing function is affected by a wide variety of factors including your age, genetics, lifestyle and life quality like nutrition, so individual predictions are not possible. But whether or not you notice, you can be certain that Soundbites is doing what we say it does,  helping your hearing cells work the way they’re supposed to work, free of oxidative stress that compromises normal auditory function and damages hearing. 

Soundbites starts working within thirty minutes, so you may notice a difference quickly if your ears are under a high level of oxidative stress and able to recover quickly. For example, one customer who lives in a quiet, remote location takes Soundbites before using her riding mower, because she used to experience muffled hearing from the noise even though she wore earmuffs, and she notices that doesn’t happen when she uses Soundbites. 

DPOAE tests performed by an audiologist confirm objective improvements in hearing sensitivity among patients taking Soundbites, but Soundbites cannot claim you will perceive any differences in your hearing or tinnitus symptoms, or improvement in your hearing sensitivity.