New research suggests that antibiotics may increase the risk of hearing loss in people with severe bacterial infections.

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have found that inflammation from dangerous bacterial infections substantially increased susceptibility to hearing impairment by increasing the uptake of aminoglycoside antibiotics into the inner ear.

"Currently, it's accepted that the price that some patients have to pay for surviving a life-threatening bacterial infection is the loss of their ability to hear. We must swiftly bring to clinics everywhere effective alternatives for treating life-threatening infections that do not sacrifice patients' ability to hear," Peter S. Steyger, researcher and professor of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, said in a statement. "Most instances in which patients are treated with aminoglycosides involve infants with life-threatening infections. The costs of this incalculable loss are borne by patients and society. When infants lose their hearing, they begin a long and arduous process to learn to listen and speak. This can interfere with their educational trajectory and psychosocial development, all of which can have a dramatic impact on their future employability, income and quality of life."

For the study, researchers conducted a rodent experiment. When Steyger and his colleagues gave healthy mice a low amount of aminoglycoside, antimicrobials that are indispensable to treating life-threatening bacterial infections, the rodents experienced a small degree of hearing loss. If the mice had an inflammation that is typical of the infections treated with aminoglycosides in humans, the mice experienced a vastly greater degree of hearing loss.

Researchers said their study lays the groundwork for improving the standard of care guidelines for patients receiving aminoglycosides.

To shield patients' hearing, the researchers called for the development of more targeted aminoglycosides and urged clinicians to choose more targeted, non-ototoxic antibiotics or anti-infective drugs to treat patients stricken with severe infections.

The findings are published in online in the journal Science Translational Medicine.