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Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a medical emergency in which hearing deteriorates rapidly for no immediately identifiable cause. It frequently occurs alongside anxiety and depression, and standard pharmacological treatment alone often fails to fully address either the auditory or the psychological aspects of the condition. This randomised controlled trial investigated whether adding electroacupuncture to standard drug treatment could produce better outcomes than drug treatment alone.
Seventy-eight patients diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss and accompanying anxiety or depression were randomly divided into two equal groups of 39. One group received pharmacological treatment only, while the other received the same pharmacological treatment supplemented by seven days of electroacupuncture. Hearing was assessed across a range of frequencies using pure tone audiometry, and psychological wellbeing was measured using standardised rating scales for depression and anxiety before and after treatment.
Patients who received the combined therapy showed statistically significant improvements in hearing across all tested frequencies, with hearing gains notably greater than those seen in the pharmacological-treatment-only group. The combined group also experienced meaningful reductions in both depression and anxiety scores, whereas the pharmacological-treatment-only group showed no significant psychological improvement. No serious safety concerns were reported in relation to the electroacupuncture intervention.
Conclusion: Adding electroacupuncture to standard pharmacological treatment appears to offer meaningful additional benefit for patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss who also experience anxiety or depression, improving both hearing recovery and psychological wellbeing compared with drug treatment alone.
Source: Lou J, Zhang G, Zhang W and colleagues. Pakistan journal of pharmaceutical sciences (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42489304) · doi:10.36721/PJPS.2026.39.10.292.1