The place of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and ozone therapy in sudden hearing loss.

Introduction: It is difficult to evaluate the effect of drugs clinically used for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, mainly because its underlying mechanism remains unknown.

Objective: This study assessed the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy or ozone therapy in the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, when either therapy was included with steroid treatment.

Methods: A retrospective analysis examined 106 patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss seen between January 2010 and June 2012.

Effect of zinc ion on cadmium-induced auditory changes.

Cadmium, which has adverse effects on many physiological systems, is an important environmental pollutant. Our previous experimental study showed that cadmium also has a dose-dependent deleterious effect on the auditory system in rats. Because zinc reverses cadmium cytotoxicity in many systems, we investigated the possible preventive effect of a zinc-enriched diet given isochronally on cadmium-induced hearing loss in rats.