If you have trouble hearing, or notice that your hearing is not as good as it used to be, listen up.
Age-related hearing loss may be retrievable, according to Dr. Jonathan Wright, MD, medical director of the Tahoma Clinic in Washington.
By supplementing three patients with the bioidentical hormone aldosterone, all of the men -- who were either losing their hearing or who had lost a lot of their hearing -- were able to regain much of what had been lost.
In one case, an 87-year-old man who was diagnosed with hearing loss in 1994 was found to have low aldosterone levels. After six weeks of taking aldosterone, the man visited his audiologist and found that his hearing had increased 30-50 decibels in one ear, and 20-30 in the other. His ability to discriminate words from a noisy background also increased significantly.
An animal study has also suggested that the hormone aldosterone was able to restore hearing.
This process of using bioidentical hormones to restore hearing is actively going on at the Tahoma Clinic, which is presently the first and only place in the United States that is using aldosterone to restore hearing.
Aldosterone is a hormone normally secreted by our adrenal glands to retain sodium. So the end result is retention of sodium. Could it then be that hearing loss is a result of all these low salt (sodium) diets?
I never believed in low salt diets. Now, with this news, I would not be surprised if hearing loss is actually a result of low salt intake.
I also read that hearing loss can be restored by listening to, or being exposed to, high frequency sounds (Tomatis sound therapy). It's worth trying, for those who do have hearing impediments.
My youngest son has lost a lot of his hearing, and the doctors say he will eventually become deaf... From the way I understand my sons problem, is that the hair follicles that stand up in the ear to block the sound to protect the ear drums dont stand up in my son's ears... They are all laying down, which means that loud noises are destroying his hearing.. (which was really bad for a soldier in Iraq) His hearing is so bad, that they deferred him from any more active duty Will this bioidentical hormone still help him???? Im thinking this might be worth a try.
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I have a question for you. Please read the following ...
Quote:
The inner ear is sensitive to changes in potassium levels which tend to decrease with aging. Falling potassium values play a role in the hearing loss[3] in the elderly. Blood levels of aldosterone generally decline with aging as well.
Aldosterone is a normal hormone found in all humans. This is safe to take and requires only an occasional check of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate).
...
My impression is that taking a safe preparation to restore and maintain hearing (aldosterone) will be preferred by most individuals to wearing a hearing aid.
Would increasing sodium levels (via salt in one's diet) also necessitate an increase in potassium intake (via diet and/or supplementation), in your opinion?
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Will this bioidentical hormone still help him???? Im thinking this might be worth a try.
I've been thinking about this. Why did the researchers even think of treating with aldosterone??? Or why did they even think of screening for it in the hearing impaired subjects? Could it be because they now have a product to market?
As I mentioned, aldosterone is a hormone released by our adrenals, but it is needed and released only in very specific situations, particularly circulatory failure. Decreased cardiac output or some other condition resulting in circulatory insufficiency leads to drop in kidney circulation, causing the kidney to start the body's response to the circulation drop. This is by secreting renin and angiotensin (which constrict kidney vessels, thus impeding or stopping urine formation to preserve circulating fluid volume), which in turn stimulates the nearby adrenals to secrete aldosterone. The aldosterone then causes further retention of sodium from the kidneys, leading to further water retention (osmotic pressure). This retention of water/fluids is part of the body's response to a circulation drop.
So in all these, I wonder why they would target aldosterone? Do we think it abnormal for insulin levels to be low? Definitely not, because we know that insulin is not secreted when it's not needed (except in type 1 diabetes). In the same manner, aldosterone is not secreted when it's not needed, and therefore, by itself, low aldosterone should not mean anything. And since the end result of aldosterone secretion or administration is sodium retention, why not just go after the end result by taking in more salt? (And by the way, aldosterone is made from cholesterol. So if we're concerned about lack of aldosterone production, we should make sure we have cholesterol, or the body could make it if it's not stopped by statins.)
I would recommend trying sound therapy principles to restore the hearing of your son. It's easy and free.
Attached is a 1-minute mp3 file which I made long ago with the free version of Brain Wave Generator. It incorporates a high frequency sound with a binaural tone (needs stereo earphones to listen) which induces alpha (Schumann) frequency. I hope your son would try it and see if it helps. Just set the player to repeat so that he gets around 10 minutes of listening at a time.
(I had to convert the mp3 to a zip file because mp3s could not be attached. Just extract the file to get the mp3 file.)
Oh, and everyone else is welcome to try the sound file. Tell me any effect you might observe. (For one, the high frequency sound can drop one's need of sleep if listened to long enough during the day. And alpha brainwave induction -- you must use stereo ear phones to get this result -- puts our brains in an extremely efficient state.)
Would increasing sodium levels (via salt in one's diet) also necessitate an increase in potassium intake (via diet and/or supplementation), in your opinion?
Thanks for the info, Harry. Now we have direct evidence that minerals or electrolytes, in this case potassium, do have their role in certain nervous functions like hearing.
I know that aldosterone only acts on sodium retention, and I'm not sure about it's role in potassium balance. However, if aldosterone shows the need for sodium and potassium also has some role in hearing, we might as well get both. Or at least, make sure we're not deficient in either of them.
My hearing is really bad. Mainly from working around loud aircraft engines. I can understand most men if I can see their lips. I have more trouble with women, especially soft-spoken southern women. I shouldn't generalize but yankee women seem to speak up more. I really have trouble with southern women on the phone. Maybe I should get one of those TV phones but they would have to do the same.
I've read where they're working on stem cell therapy to regrow the inner ear celia, but it probably won't be developed soon enough for me.
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Iggy, see if the sound file I made will help you. The low frequency sounds (aircraft in your case, ref sounds, fluorescent lights, aircons, electric fans) we're constantly exposed to can dull our hearing, and high frequency sounds tend to bring back our "ear tone."
Of course, considering the nutrients discussed in this thread can be of help, too.
Iggy, the headset (stereo) is only needed for the alpha binaural beat. The high frequency tone, which is needed to improve hearing, does not need stereo capability. So you could still try out the file with ordinary speakers.
WARNING! -- I need to mention this, though I'm not sure of the causal relationship: the left speaker of my Dell Inspiron 1200 laptop apparently burned up (yep, I smelled something burning and even had to look for smoke) when I was playing a high frequency tone generated from the Brain Wave Generator program. To be safe, do not use the built-in speakers of your notebook or laptop to play this sound file. I have since played the sound file with a lot of other speakers and ear-phones/headsets and none of these were damaged. I never dared to try in on another laptop, though.
I've been thinking about this. Why did the researchers even think of treating with aldosterone???
.....
And since the end result of aldosterone secretion or administration is sodium retention, why not just go after the end result by taking in more salt?
I've been thinking some more.
While the effect of aldosterone is sodium retention, the real end result is retention of water. So for the effect of aldosterone on hearing, we might get the same result by taking salt, or by taking more water, or both.
I passed along the audio file to my father. If he uses it, I will report back on his impressions.
My dad struggles with high blood pressure so I'm not sure if added salt would be appropriate for him.
He also has an enlarged prostate and this may affect his desire to drink enough ... as urination difficulty (emptying his bladder and poor flow) and frequency are both considerations. I'll inquire about how much he drinks. Perhaps this is a factor.
__________________
You're officially invited to come visit my new blog: www.healthyfellow.com
I've been thinking about this. Why did the researchers even think of treating with aldosterone??? Or why did they even think of screening for it in the hearing impaired subjects? Could it be because they now have a product to market?
As I mentioned, aldosterone is a hormone released by our adrenals, but it is needed and released only in very specific situations, particularly circulatory failure. Decreased cardiac output or some other condition resulting in circulatory insufficiency leads to drop in kidney circulation, causing the kidney to start the body's response to the circulation drop. This is by secreting renin and angiotensin (which constrict kidney vessels, thus impeding or stopping urine formation to preserve circulating fluid volume), which in turn stimulates the nearby adrenals to secrete aldosterone. The aldosterone then causes further retention of sodium from the kidneys, leading to further water retention (osmotic pressure). This retention of water/fluids is part of the body's response to a circulation drop.
So in all these, I wonder why they would target aldosterone? Do we think it abnormal for insulin levels to be low? Definitely not, because we know that insulin is not secreted when it's not needed (except in type 1 diabetes). In the same manner, aldosterone is not secreted when it's not needed, and therefore, by itself, low aldosterone should not mean anything. And since the end result of aldosterone secretion or administration is sodium retention, why not just go after the end result by taking in more salt? (And by the way, aldosterone is made from cholesterol. So if we're concerned about lack of aldosterone production, we should make sure we have cholesterol, or the body could make it if it's not stopped by statins.)
I would recommend trying sound therapy principles to restore the hearing of your son. It's easy and free.
Attached is a 1-minute mp3 file which I made long ago with the free version of Brain Wave Generator. It incorporates a high frequency sound with a binaural tone (needs stereo earphones to listen) which induces alpha (Schumann) frequency. I hope your son would try it and see if it helps. Just set the player to repeat so that he gets around 10 minutes of listening at a time.
(I had to convert the mp3 to a zip file because mp3s could not be attached. Just extract the file to get the mp3 file.)
Oh, and everyone else is welcome to try the sound file. Tell me any effect you might observe. (For one, the high frequency sound can drop one's need of sleep if listened to long enough during the day. And alpha brainwave induction -- you must use stereo ear phones to get this result -- puts our brains in an extremely efficient state.)
Gerry
I gotta tell you guys that my head hurts and my mind needs to STOP!!! LOL! I WISH I was a computer so I would just KNOW about all of this. All I've done for months is research for my (ex) cancer issue, and now here you come along with a whole new ball of wax. I've never heard of sound therapy. Help me please. My husband had his hearing checked 2 weeks ago. Its BAD. He's 69. I've known I've had to yell for him to hear me but after the doc hooked him up with the aids he told me stop yelling!! (the docs aids in the office). They only want 5000.00 for 2 of them so needless to say, I've got to yell a while longer.....unless.....whats this sound therapy for hearing? I really can't locate a specific site explaining to me how this is going to help his hearing. Can someone here elaborate at all? I'd appreciate it, thanks.
Hearing Loss Breakthrough? - Dr. Wright Says So
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