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Vitamin D made significant improvement in people with sudden sensorineural hearing loss

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Clinical efficacy of vitamin D combined with conventional therapy for sudden...12

Vitamin D supplementation combined with conventional therapy significantly improves both short-term and sustained long-term hearing and tinnitus outcomes in patients with vitamin D deficiency. These findings support its role as a safe and...

Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether adjunctive vitamin D supplementation enhances the efficacy of conventional therapy in treating sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in patients with vitamin D deficiency, and to assess both short-term and long-term clinical outcomes.

Methods: In this prospective randomized controlled trial, 101 SSNHL inpatients with vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D < 75 nmol/L) were enrolled at Yinchuan First People’s Hospital (January-December 2024). Participants were randomized into a control group (n = 51, receiving conventional therapy: methylprednisolone and ginkgo biloba extract) and an experimental group (n = 50, conventional therapy + oral vitamin D3 [1500-2000 IU/day] for 10 days). Hearing and tinnitus outcomes were assessed via pure tone audiometry () and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory () at baseline, 10 days, and 3 months.

Results: Baseline characteristics were comparable between groups (all P > 0.05). At 10 days, the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher total effective rates for hearing recovery (82.0% vs. 52.9%, P < 0.001) and tinnitus improvement (83.3% vs. 71.1%, P = 0.007) compared to the control group. Mean PTA improvement was 29.3 vs. 14.2 dB HL (P < 0.001). At 3 months, the experimental group maintained significantly better outcomes, with a mean PTA improvement of 25.1 dB HL versus 12.5 dB HL in the control group (P < 0.001) and a greater reduction in THI scores (27.5 vs. 13.9, P < 0.001). The total effective rate for hearing remained superior in the experimental group (76.0% vs. 47.1%, P = 0.002).

Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation combined with conventional therapy significantly improves both short-term and sustained long-term hearing and tinnitus outcomes in SSNHL patients with vitamin D deficiency. These findings support its role as a safe and effective adjuvant treatment, warranting further validation through multicenter trials.

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Interesting. Vitamin D deficiency is common, especially among the elderly. People in general also get less sunshine these days (staring at screens in the shadows instead). Sunshine (at an angle above 45° or so) lets us make our own vitamin D (and without the mercury that comes with tuna, or the saturated fat in butter). Sunburns and melanomas present severe risks, but sunlight also brings many benefits, and vitamin D supplements cannot completely compensate for a lack of it. For instance, the risks for multiple sclerosis, obesity, (other) cancers, depression and cardiovascular disease increase as people live at (or move into) higher latitudes. Summer is coming. The trick is to gently build up your tan as UV exposure rises- farmers usually avoid those sunburns and melanomas.

For a longer review, see e.g.

Benefits of Sunlight: A Bright Spot for Human Health1

Health effects of sunlight exposure1

Exposure of skin to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight presents both positive and negative health effects. On the positive side, UV exposure enables the synthesis of vitamin D3, which is essential for bone health and potentially plays a role in inhibiting certain cancers. While vitamin D can also be obtained through dietary supplements, UV exposure offers benefits such as enhanced subdermal nitric oxide production and improved endorphin levels, which are not achievable through supple However,...

Just a personal opinion, but I’m firmly convinced that practically everyone living at more than 45 degrees N/S should be on these at least six months of the year. In the Scandi countries I believe everyone gets them posted out to their houses in September.

I have no medical degree to back this up or the benefits of low dose Creatine use, in the replacement of muscle mass as we age, but personally I’ve found both to be effective.

The Vitamin D and sunlight myth

I found this out a long time ago. It is true that your skin produces Vitamin D BUT, and it is a very big BUT, not all areas of your body produce the same amount of vitamin D.

It seems that the parts of your body that produce the least amounts of Vitamin D are

-Your arms, from the shoulder to the finger tips.

-Your Legs, from your hips to the toes

-Your head and neck from the collar bone up to top of your head.

Only the skin on your torso ( your back, stomach and breast area) produces lots of Vitamin D

Those areas that produce the least amount are those areas that are the most exposed to sunlight. This prevents over production of vitamin D . This is something you need to keep in mind.

However clothing blocks sunlight so you can walk around all day and not be producing any significant amounts of vitamin D. I strongly recommend daily year round supplementation.

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It is indeed probably not a bad idea to take year-round vitamin D for those living above 45° N (especially those with dark skin colour). But the list of most effective body parts to expose to sunlight appears to be based mostly on surface size and orientation. As for where the epidermis is the most effective vitamin D producer I have seen only a single study:

“The face and the hands are proportionally more potent producers of cholecalciferol than other body areas” (https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(17)30177-X/pdf). Conveniently, those are also the parts that always stick out during a walk.

The widespread “myth’“ is, indeed, that all sunshine is bad, as it causes melanomas.

I don’t know that I believe this data. I’ve been taking Vit D for many yrs now for another health issue. It did not prevent me from having a SSHL in 2016, nor did it aid in any hearing recovery. Nor did it do anything to improve my tinnitus resulting from my SSHL.

Edited

Check if you fulfill all the inclusion/exclusion criteria- the FT article is available as Open Acess. Note also that ALL participants also received “conventional therapy” (methylprednisolone and ginkgo biloba extract). The study was not double- or even single-blinded, which is ugly. Finally, probably only a subset of patients (of the 50 tested) saw an improvement, reported as 82.0% vs. 52.9% (with a statistical precision that falsely suggests they tested over a thousand participants…).

Just here to mention that sunscreen does not block vitamin d production. Sunshine is good. Sunscreen is good.

Get that sunscreen into the tips of your ears. Cancerous spots are so common right there.

I take vitamin D daily and have for years. And I have had had therapy for speech understanding. My hearing has been stable for almost 8 years now. I haven’t noticed any changes in my tinnitus. But I have noticed less stress trying to understand what is being said. I also take a number of supplements to help my vision as I have macular degeneration, cataracts, and dry eyes. My macular degeneration and cataracts haven’t changed in 18 years and my dry eyes have improved over this last year with the use of omega three supplements.

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