Abstract
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.