The studies by Hirose et al. and Fujioka et al. pointedout the possibility of inflammatory changes in the cochlea after noise stimuli. Fujioka et al. demonstrated for the first time the induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the cochlea exposed to the noise and observed increased expression of interleukins TNF-, IL-1 and IL-6 3 h after noise exposure. These authors pointed out that this is a self-protection mechanism against exposure to large amounts of noise and that the consequent over-expression of interleukins for long periods must worsen cochlear function