Association between auditory pathway efferent functions and genotoxicity in young adults

Efferent auditory pathways modulate outer hair cells of the cochlea, protect against noise, and improve the detection of sound sources in noisy environments. Genotoxicity is DNA damage. Aim: To study the association between auditory pathway efferent functions with genotoxic markers. The study also considered smoking and gender as two main variables. Methods: A prospective-clinical, quantitative, cross-sectional, contemporary study. The function of efferent auditory pathways and genotoxicity tests in 60 healthy young subjects were assessed. Results: The mean age of subjects was 24.86 years +/- 3.68 years; there were 30 males and 30 females, 15 of each gender smokers and 15 non-smokers. Male smokers had a higher incidence of DPOEA suppression effect at 2000 and 6000 Hz in the left ear; female smokers had a higher prevalence of complaints of difficulty to hear in noisy environments; smokers and women had a higher mean DNA damage; subjects with complaints of hearing loss and tinnitus had higher genotoxicity. Conclusions: In young normal-hearing adults that complain about efferent auditory pathways functions, such as tinnitus and hearing impairment, there are possible associations with genotoxicity; interactions between gender and smoking are considered.