Acute Alcohol Intake Deteriorates Hearing Thresholds and Speech Perception in Noise

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Otolaryngology
• Neuropharmacology

Background:

• Hearing involves complex auditory pathways influenced by external factors.
• Limited research exists on alcohol's specific effects on auditory performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of acute alcohol administration on various hearing functions in humans.
• To assess alcohol's effects on auditory thresholds and speech-in-noise perception.

Main Methods:

• 43 healthy volunteers received alcohol to reach a 0.05% blood alcohol content.
• Hearing tests included pure-tone audiometry, SRT, WRS, DPOAE, GIN test, and Korean matrix sentence test.
• Auditory performance was evaluated in both alcohol-free and acute alcohol conditions.

Main Results:

• Alcohol consumption increased pure-tone hearing thresholds and speech reception thresholds (SRT).
• Word recognition scores (WRS) were not affected by alcohol.
• Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) and gap detection (GIN test) remained unchanged.
• Speech perception in noise was significantly reduced in both easy and difficult conditions.

Conclusions:

• Acute alcohol intake elevates auditory perception thresholds.
• Alcohol negatively impacts complex and difficult auditory tasks, particularly speech-in-noise challenges.
• Simple auditory functions appear less affected by acute alcohol consumption.