Can Viagra damage your hearing?

For some time, there has been anecdotal evidence that Viagra may damage some people’s hearing. Now a study from the University of Alabama has added fuel to this theory.

The study examined the hearing of men over 40 who were taking Viagra and found one in three had hearing problems; in comparison, among men who weren’t taking any erectile dysfunction drugs, one in six had hearing problems.

An interesting aspect of the study was that, as lead researcher Dr. James Saunders explains: “before the current paper the focus has always been on sudden hearing loss … this study suggests that maybe there are small incremental changes that occur over time.”

So is it safe to take Viagra? Well, it seems that there may potentially be a risk of hearing loss, if you take the drug on a regular basis. However, the researchers themselves admit that there are many limitations to their findings. For instance, they relied on people self-reporting their hearing loss – a system that has been criticised as inaccurate.

They also confessed that for men with normal hearing, the potential threat of this side effect may not put them off taking Viagra, especially if faced with the more immediate problem of erectile dysfunction.

A reasonable conclusion to make would be that older men with hearing problems should be wary of Viagra, but for anyone else, the picture is not too clear cut.

How could Viagra damage hearing?

A possible explanation, one researcher said, is that Viagra increases blood flow in different parts of the body. Potentially it could do this to tissue in the ears, which could then cause damage leading to hearing loss.

This would be ironic given that Viagra’s ability to increase blood flow has been so beneficial in the majority of cases. It has not only alleviated impotence for many people, but also helped mother to give birth, kept newborn babies alive, and helped operations including lung transplants to take place. It is thought that rival impotence drug Cialis may be able to help treat head and neck cancers.