Sudden Hearing Loss
What is Sudden Hearing Loss?
Sudden Hearing Loss can occur quickly, often within a few hours or days. For example, sufferers notice that their hearing in one ear is muffled when they wake up. People experiencing sudden hearing loss need to seek medical attention right away, as an early diagnosis can help the chances of recovery1.
Signs and Symptoms of Sudden Hearing Loss:
What to Do in the Case of Suspected Sudden Hearing Loss
In the case of suspected Sudden Hearing Loss, it’s important to seek medical attention right away. A doctor or an audiologist can perform tests to determine the type and extent of the hearing loss and help the patient to understand the treatment options. Sometimes people with Sudden Hearing Loss delay going to their doctor as they think it is due to a common condition (e.g. allergies, cold and flu viruses). However, delaying diagnosis and treatment can affect the chance of recovery.
What treatments are available for Sudden Hearing Loss?
Treatment depends on the cause and severity of the hearing loss. Hearing loss can have various causes, including infections, drug intolerance or simply ear wax. Often some of these causes can easily be treated but require intervention as soon as possible to maximize its effectiveness.
Unfortunately, for Sudden Hearing Loss, there is currently no approved medication. Sudden Hearing Loss is hearing loss that is caused by damage to the inner ear structures. Sometimes, doctors will prescribe corticosteroids – a type of steroid, for Sudden Hearing Loss. Steroids generally reduce inflammation but for treating Sudden Hearing Loss there is limited evidence that they improve the symptoms2 and, therefore, steroids are not approved. It is therefore important to explore all options with your doctor.
What is AudioCure and AC102?
AudioCure is dedicated to the development of drug treatments for hearing disorders with a high unmet medical need, including Sudden Hearing Loss. Our lead candidate is called AC102 and has been shown in disease models to restore hearing back to almost normal after hearing loss. We also compared AC102 treatment to steroid treatment, the current standard of care, and found that AC102 led to substantially more recovery from hearing loss. AC102 was proven to be both safe and well tolerated by healthy volunteers in a Phase 1 clinical study completed in 2021. Whether it is effective in people with hearing loss is currently being tested in a so-called Phase 2 trial.
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References
- Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: results drawn from the Swedish national database. (2007), Nosrati-Zarenoe et al., Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 127:11, 1168-1175
- Clinical Practice Guideline: Sudden Hearing Loss (Update). (2019), Chandrasekhar et al., Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg., Aug;161(1_suppl):S1-S45