Evaluation of antioxidant treatment in presbyacusis: prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised trial

There are many well-known aetiological mechanisms of presbyacusis, and free radicals have been shown to play an important role. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of antioxidant agents on the hearing threshold of patients with presbyacusis.

One hundred and twenty individuals were divided into four groups and received one of the following treatment schemes: ginkgo biloba dry extract, α-lipoic acid plus vitamin C, papaverine chlorhydrate plus vitamin E, or placebo. All participants were evaluated at recruitment and after six months, using pure tone audiometry (at isolated and average frequencies), speech recognition threshold and percentage index of speech recognition.

The various treatments had no effect on any of the evaluated measures of hearing, either between groups or over time.

There was no statistically significant change in the hearing threshold after treatment with any of the tested drugs, during the study period.