t’s no secret that growing older can be taxing on the body, and this is no less true during perimenopause, which occurs just before menopause, characterized by a significant drop in mature eggs in the ovaries, irregular ovulation, and plummeting levels of estrogen and the hormone progesterone. This drop in estrogen may play a role in hearing loss and help explain gender differences in hearing loss, according to data recently published by researchers at Drexel’s College of Medicine in the American Journal of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Medicine and Surgery.