Hydrogen Gas Helps Restore Hearing in Sudden Deafness Patients
A double-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial of hydrogen inhalation therapy for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss
Research hubs: Brain & Nervous System
- Evidence type
- Randomized controlled trial · Human study
- 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
- PMID
- 36507329
- Study Type
- Human
- Participants
- 65
- Delivery
- Gas
- Dose
- H2 inhalation combined with systemic glucocorticoids and prostaglandin E1
- H₂ concentration
- 3% H2 gas
- Duration
- 3 months
- Conflicts of interest
- Author S-IH was employed by MiZ Company Limited, which manufactured the hydrogen gas supply apparatus used in the study.
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Cited by
- 11 (OpenAlex, as of November 2026)
- Country
- Japan
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…