A certain family of antibiotics, the amino-glycosides, will occasionally cause hearing loss in humans. This is more likely to happen when a certain variant of the 12S rRNA gene is present. This is an excellent example of the way in which the environment and genes interact, and the way medications and genes interact. Some variations of the many genes above may be involved in the hearing loss of older adults. Those adults who are carriers may be more sensitive to common environmental factors like loud noises.
Infections can scar the eardrum or even the deeper parts of the hearing structures.
Hearing structures may also be damaged by trauma, such as head injuries. Chemicals can damage various parts of the hearing structures. Earlier, we mentioned that some antibiotics have this unfortunate property, and that certain gene variants make such damage more likely. Some chemicals, such as magnesium, appear to protect the hairs of the inner ear against damage. Smoking has been linked to hearing loss.