Role of Lycopene in Presbycusis

Abstract

Lycopene a red carotenoid found mainly in tomatoes and few other fruits and vegetables, is said to have strong antioxidant properties. This study aims to evaluate the effect of lycopene supplements in patients with age related hearing loss (Presbycusis) and any symptoms related to it like tinnitus. MATERIALS AND METHODSTwo hundred patients with bilateral symmetrical progressive age related sensorineural hearing loss (Presbycusis) were taken up in the study; 100 patients in study group were given capsule supplement containing lycopene and multivitamins once a day after meals for 12 months. Remaining 100 patients in control group were given capsule supplement containing only multivitamins without lycopene once a day after meals for 12 months. Patients were evaluated using Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) at first visit, after 6 months and after 12 months for degree of hearing loss, tinnitus and any side effects of capsules in both study and control groups. RESULTSThe results showed that presbycusis mainly effects higher speech frequencies (2000 hertz and above). The results showed that there was slower progression of degree of sensorineural hearing loss in study group using lycopene containing supplement as compared to control group without lycopene. There was a marginal improvement in incidence of tinnitus in the study group. There were minimal drug related side effects like nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea with no difference in both groups with or without lycopene. CONCLUSIONSo it can be concluded that Lycopene supplements can be considered as a safe treatment to slower the progress of disease in patients with age related hearing loss.

The impact of amplification on the degree of subjective feeling of hearing handicap in individuals with presbycusis

“…Nedostatak ili umanjen kvalitet percepcije auditivnih informacija dovodi se u vezu i sa sniženim osećajem sigurnosti, većom emocionalnom ranjivošću, socijalnom izolacijom i bržim propadanjem kognitivnih funkcija (Matić i sar., 2021). Ispitujući efekte gubitka funkcije čula sluha na ukupan kvalitet života, istraživači su naveli da oštećenje sluha može biti uzrok usamljenosti, izolacije i smanjenja društvenih aktivnosti usled poremećaja komunikacije, ali i nezadovoljstva porodičnim životom (Nanda, 2016;Ogundiran et al, 2017). Kao rezultat izmenjenih komunikacijskih okolnosti, gluve i nagluve osobe svoje socijalne veštine doživljavaju kao lošije, što posledično može dovesti do sniženog osećaja sigurnosti i samostalnosti.…”