Effectiveness of Oral Zinc Supplementation in the Treatment of Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (ISSNHL)
Niran Hunchaisri MD*, Suprapol Chantapant MD*, Jarinratn Sirirattanapan MD*
Affiliation : * Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
Objective : Investigate the benefit of zinc supplement combined with standard treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural
hearing loss (ISSNHL) patients.
Material and Method: A prospective, randomized study was designed to evaluate the hearing outcomes in ISSNHL patients
treated with zinc supplement. The patients were randomized into two groups, the study and the control group. The study
group received oral chelated zinc with standard treatment (oral prednisolone), while the control group received standard
treatment alone. Hearing improvement was assessed from pure-tone average (PTA) and speech discrimination scores (SDS).
Results : After treatment, significant hearing improvement was noted in both groups regarding PTA value (p = 0.016, 0.025).
SDS was also improved in both groups but with no statistical significance (p>0.05). Post-treatment PTA and SDS values
between the zinc and control groups were not statistically different (p>0.05). Hearing improvement was documented in eight
of 16 patients in the study group and seven of 14 patients in the control group. This was no significant difference (p = 1.000).
Conclusion : Zinc supplementation does not have benefit when combined with standard treatment. Nevertheless, more
subjects and well-designed studies are needed to verify the effect of zinc.
Keywords : Zinc, Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, Steroids, Prednisolone
