08 May Part 1 of Unexpected Causes of Hearing Loss: Your little blue pill may be doing more than you bargained for…
Your little blue pills may have some side effects you didn’t expect. One of these side effects may include rapid, sudden hearing loss.
Viagra (and other similar performance enhancing drugs) have been linked to 47 cases of rapid, sudden hearing loss in a UK study (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lary.21450/abstract) that coined the term “Viagra Deafness”. Since that study, there have been hundreds of other studies corroborating their findings and suggesting that sudden hearing loss is a risk of taking the little blue pill.
While the extent of the risk has not been officially determined, it is important to be aware of all your medications and if there are potential side effects that could affect your hearing.
Khan, Khan, & Benjamin (2011). Viagra Deafness- Sensorineural hearing loss and phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors. The Laryngoscope.