Hydrogen Gas Helps Restore Hearing in Sudden Deafness Patients
- Authors
- Masahiro Okada, Hideo Ogawa, Taro Takagi, Eriko Nishihara, Tadashi Yoshida, Jun Hyodo, Yusuke Shinomori, Nobumitsu Honda, Takashi Fujiwara, Masato Teraoka, Hiroyuki Yamada, Shin-ichi Hirano, Naohito Hato
- Journal
- Frontiers in Neuroscience
- Year
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3389/fnins.2022.1024634
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
- Body System
- Auditory
TL;DR
Breathing in hydrogen gas may help improve sudden hearing loss when combined with standard treatments.
Key Finding
Patients who inhaled hydrogen gas showed significantly greater improvement in hearing thresholds (32.7 dB improvement) compared to placebo (24.2 dB improvement) when combined with standard treatment for sudden hearing loss.
Summary
Researchers tested whether breathing hydrogen gas could help people with sudden hearing loss that has no clear cause. Sixty-five patients received either hydrogen gas or placebo air, along with standard medications, and their hearing was measured three months later. The hydrogen group showed greater improvement in hearing compared to the placebo group, though both groups improved significantly.
Practical Takeaway
This is the first human study testing hydrogen inhalation for sudden hearing loss, and early results suggest it may enhance recovery when used alongside standard medications. However, the study was relatively small (65 patients total), and hydrogen was always combined with other treatments, so it's unclear how much benefit comes from hydrogen alone. More research is needed before hydrogen therapy could be considered a standard treatment option.
Abstract
BackgroundHydrogen (H2) has been reported to be effective in reducing hearing loss due to several causes in animal studies. However, no study has examined the effectiveness of H2 in treating hearing loss in humans. Thus, we investigated whether H2 is effective for the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL).Materials and methodsWe conducted a double-blind randomized controlled trial at six hospitals between June 2019 and March 2022. The study protocol and trial registration have been published in the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (jRCT, No. jRCTs06119004). We randomly assigned patients with ISSNHL to receive either H2 (H2 group) or air as a placebo (control group) through inhalation combined with the administration of systemic glucocorticoids and prostaglandin E1. The primary outcome was the hearing threshold and changes in hearing threshold 3 months after therapy. In contrast, the secondary outcomes included the proportion of patients with a good prognosis (complete recovery or marked improvement).ResultsSixty-five patients with ISSNHL (31 and 34 in the H2 and control groups, respectively) were included in this study. The hearing threshold 3 months after treatment was not significantly different between the groups; 39.0 decibels (dB) (95% confidence interval [CI]: 28.7–49.3) and 49.5 dB (95% CI: 40.3–58.7) in the H2 and control groups, respectively. In contrast, the changes in hearing threshold 3 months after treatment was 32.7 dB (95% CI: 24.2–41.3) and 24.2 dB (95% CI: 18.1–30.3) in the H2 and control groups, respectively. Consequently, the changes in hearing threshold were significantly better in the H2 group than in the control group (P = 0.048). However, no adverse effects due to the inhalation of H2 gas have been reported.ConclusionThis is the first study to investigate the efficacy of H2 for the treatment of ISSNHL in humans. The results suggest that H2 therapy may be effective for ISSNHL treatment.Clinical trial registration[https://jrct.niph.go.jp/re/reports/detail/10442], identifier [jRCTs06119004].