Over the past few months I've become interested in the theory that most people in the West are deficient in magnesium, and the various health problems this leads to. One of the more interesting aspects of this is the relationship between magnesium and hearing, specifically the effect that magnesium has in preventing noise induced hearing damage.
Apparently a study was done in the military which looked at the effect of magnesium supplementation on noise damage suffered during military training involving firearms and explosions. It found that magnesium reduced the damage. This is interesting to me as a musician, because how many of us haven't worried at one time or another that we might permanently damage our hearing by exposing our ears to some kind of extreme noise event, or prolonged exposure to loud noise in general.
I have moderate hearing loss above 15K, although I don't think it's too bad for my age (40). It does kind of freak me out however, especially since I had pin sharp hearing as a kid. I can distinctly remember as a small child hearing the different harmonics in people's voices very clearly, to the point where people almost sounded freakishly metallic if I concentrated on it. I can't do that now.
I screwed with my ears in my late teens and early 20's - mainly due to the fact that the emerging rave scene was in full swing and I spent many weekends at the most ear splitting warehouse parties, dancing away to hard acid techno music at the most ridiculous volumes for sometimes 12 hours straight. On top of that there were loud gigs I attended, some time in bands, and daily headphone use at less than sensible volumes. I wonder if my hearing damage would have been less, had I not been magnesium deficient (my diet was pretty awful at the time). I also have tinnitus, which drives me mad sometimes but I've learned to live with it. Some say that tinnitus can partly be caused by the kind of brain damage that comes along with excessive use of drugs and alcohol, well I did plenty of that in my youth as well, although I cut it out altogether 10 years ago.
I would truly hate it if my hearing or my tinnitus got worse due to one careless blast of sound through a pair of cans. I can't help thinking about Andy Partridge of XTC, who received severe permanent tinnitus in one ear due to a dumb studio engineer triggering a snare sample at full blast through his cans when he had them turned up full to listen for noise on a track. Or Pete Townsend, who had his ears screwed by a particularly insane Keith Moon drum explosion live on TV, or William Shatner, who lost some hearing and got tinnitus by standing too close to a stage explosion during the filming of Star Trek. I wonder if this sort of thing can be prevented or at least minimized by magnesium supplementation. Or if my hearing in general would improve. It's worth Googling the subject for links because there is much to be read on the subject.
Anyway I'm taking a daily dose of magnesium, if not for the myriad of other health benefits it has, including muscle and joint pain and general relaxation. I found that the citrate form is way superior to the Mg oxide caps, and I've been taking a drink called Natural Calm twice per day. I have to say I do feel a lot more relaxed, I don't get as much neck pain and stiffness as I used to, and I sleep a hell of a lot better. Whether it's protecting my hearing or not, I cannot say, but I feel like I'm at least doing something in addition to the usual precautions.