Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jan 17, 2026 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
Medical News: Hidden disorders with life changing effects
Millions of people across all ages suffer daily from hearing loss tinnitus and vertigo but many do not realize how closely linked these problems are deep within the inner ear. A new scientific review by experts from the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Iowa together with collaborators from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences spotlights an unexpected new angle. Their work suggests that repurposed medications—specifically common blood pressure drugs—might one day slow or prevent the damage that pushes people into hearing aids implants and chronic dizziness. This
Medical News report explores that growing possibility.
Widely used blood pressure pills may one day prevent hearing loss tinnitus and vertigo.
Old treatments rarely fix what is broken
Hearing loss is generally irreversible once the inner ear’s microscopic sensory cells are injured. Doctors mainly offer hearing aids to amplify sound or cochlear implants for the most severe cases but neither restores natural function. Tinnitus the persistent ringing or roaring that torments one in ten adults remains without a single proven drug therapy in the United States and therapies focus on coping support rather than cure. Vertigo care varies by cause but may rely on balance exercises diuretics dietary limits steroids or sometimes ear surgery. The key issue across all three conditions is the same—there are still no medicines that target the root damage inside the ear.
The pressure system inside your body that harms your hearing
The renin–angiotensin system or RAS is famous for controlling blood pressure but it also helps regulate body fluids inflammation and blood vessel health. Scientists in this review show that when RAS becomes overactive it pours fuel on the same biologic fires that destroy hearing cells including oxidative stress inflammation and breakdown of the inner ears protective vessel barrier. Angiotensin receptor blockers ARBs the class of drugs normally given for hypertension shut down the most damaging branch of this system and steer the body toward anti -inflammatory protective pathways instead.
What the research already shows
The team summarized dozens of laboratory and human studies revealing eye opening results.
• Mice given ARBs retained hearing and healthier ear blood flow after loud noise exposure
• Rats treated with losartan or telmisartan lost fewer sensory hair cells after toxic antibiotics
• Diabetic rats kept more normal inner ear structure when given ARBs
• A Korean database with over 860000 patients found telmisartan users had far lower hearing loss rates than matched controls
• US All of Us registry trends suggest people on ARBs or ACE inhibitors were less likely to decline to cochlear implantation than patients using other blood pressure drugs
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• Patients with vestibular schwannoma who used ARBs showed slower hearing decline and animal tumor models confirmed reduced inflammation and better -preserved hearing
Although tinnitus has not yet been tested directly over 90 percent of tinnitus patients also have measurable hearing loss which means ARB therapy could influence that same pathway. Vertigo may follow suit because RAS signaling interacts with water and salt channels that drive Meniere’s disease pressure spikes and inner ear fluid imbalance.
A realistic near future if trials confirm the promise
The authors caution—this is not a cure today. Most evidence comes from animals or retrospective reviews so controlled trials are needed. But unlike experimental drugs ARBs are already safe cheap and available worldwide with decades of clinical use behind them. That makes them ideal for repurposing. If future trials determine the right drug the right dose and the right timing these medicines might become the first therapy to protect the delicate inner ear before damage becomes permanent. That shift would move care from symptom control to true disease modification something patients have waited for generations.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed Journal of Clinical Medicine.
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/2/743
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