Hydrogen Gas Helps Restore Hearing in Sudden Deafness Patients

Summary by Hydrogen Studies Editorial Team · Updated

Authors
Journal
Frontiers in Neuroscience
Year
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 (excerpt)

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…

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