Abstract
Age-related hearing impairment (ARHI) is the result of genetic predispositions combined with various environmental factors that affect the inner ear and accumulate during a lifetime. Several genes may be involved in presbycusis. Mitochondrial DNA common deletion levels in human cochlear tissue are related to the severity of hearing loss in individuals with presbycusis. In addition, it appears that reactive oxygen species formation and apoptosis are key events in the underlying pathology. The environmental factors contributing to presbycusis are very heterogeneous and may include, for example, smoking, exposure to loud noise, and the use of ototoxic drugs. ARHI does not follow a single pattern and may potentially be accompanied by either one or more of the following: an age-dependent loss of sensory hair cells and/or auditory nerve fibers, and degeneration of the stria vascularis.
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