Oral Statins and Protection From Hearing Loss

Eligibility Criteria

• * Patient older than 18 years and younger than 81 years and
• * Diagnosed with one sided idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss by physical examination, history, audiology, speech interpretation tests and tinnitus evaluation and
• * Seen in the clinic within the first 14 days after the onset of symptoms. and
• * Mean hearing threshold equal to or worse than \>30 dB averaged across three consecutive frequencies.
• * Excellent English Speaking and Comprehension
• * Children
• * Prisoners
• * Pregnant women
• * Patients who have experienced similar prior events of SSNHL
• * Patients with bacterial infections, mycoplasma, Lyme disease, tuberculosis, syphilis, fungal infections,
• * Autoimmune inner ear disease
• * Middle ear inflammation or effusion
• * Ototoxic medication such as chemotherapy, loop diuretics, high dose aspirin, etc.
• * Head Trauma, lead poisoning
• * Genetic disorders affecting hearing
• * Mitochondrial disorders, including MELAS (metabolic encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes), stroke, Cogan's syndrome
• * Neoplastic (neurofibromatosis II, bilateral vestibular schwannomas, carcinomatous meningitis, intravascular lymphomatosis, others)
• * Sarcoidosis
• * Hyperviscosity syndrome
• * Diabetes
• * Use of statins within the last 12 months
• * Allergy, hypersensitivity or intolerance to any components of the study medication
• * Prior tinnitus
• * Prior otologic surgery other than ventilation tubes
• * History of drug abuse or alcoholism within the prior 2 years
• * Any psychiatric syndrome requiring treatment with neuroleptics, antidepressants, hypnotics or anxiolytics
• * Severe systemic neurologic disease (epilepsy, Parkinson's, dementia/Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis
• * Oral steroid treatment within the preceding 30 days
• * Heart disease or TIAs
• * Chronic kidney failure
• * HIV, Hepatitis B or C
• * Active shingles
• * Skull, facial or temporal bone anomalies