Ben Sumadivilla, a Berlin-based food lover, enjoys experimenting with spicy dishes. Sumadivilla suffered temporary deafness after eating spicy "death noodles" in Indonesia. (?Ben Sumadiwiria/@supercolben)

Eating spicy food has become an extreme sport, but one food vlogger had a serious reaction to a recent eating challenge: 2 minutes of deafness. He captured all the sweat, pain and tears on video.

"The pain was to the point where my ears were blocked," said Bensumadiveria, who posted a video of himself eating "death noodles" in Indonesia late last year. Sumadiwiria's YouTube channel also features videos of him and his friends devouring bowls of noodles that leave their skin rosy and their eyes moist.

, but how can chili pepper make people deaf, even temporarily? There is no definite medical answer yet, but it may have something to do with the intricate connections between the mouth, throat and ears. [Tip of the Tongue: 7 (Other) Flavors We Can Taste] Chili Bites Back

The noodles eaten in Indonesian sumadivilia are made with 100 types of bird's eye chili peppers (also known as Thai chili peppers) It's done. These little red peppers pack a big punch—they have 100,000 to 225,000 heat units, which is a measure of spiciness, and are 45 times hotter than the jalape?o (the hottest pepper on record is grown in the South Carolina Reaper peppers, 440 times hotter than jalape?os, although Dragon Breath peppers may be another contender for the title)

Sumadiwiria is no wimp when it comes to condiments: He makes his own. hot sauce and pickled peppers as snacks, he told LiveScience. But the paprika made him sweat, turn red, and declare the worst pain he'd ever felt.

"I can't hear a thing, man," he says in the video, moments before he dunks his head into the cold tap water.

The heat-producing compound in peppers is called capsaicin, and it may be there to protect the plant against fungi. Capsaicin *** Human cells, especially the mucous membranes of the mouth, throat, stomach and eyes. Small amounts can cause a burning sensation as pain receptors in the membranes respond to the drug. As the concentration increases, the body ups the ante in order to protect itself: It secretes snot and lots of tears in an attempt to create a barrier between itself and the capsaicin. It releases endorphins to suppress the spread of pain, sometimes making the mouth feel numb, said Dr. Michael Godrich, an otolaryngologist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey.

This numbing effect is why capsaicin is sometimes used to relieve chronic pain. Capsaicin creams first increase pain and burning, but soon after, they suppress pain nerves, Goderich said.

But back to spicy noodles: Ingesting extremely high concentrations of capsaicin can even cause blisters in the throat or mouth, New Mexico State University horticulturist and chile expert Paul Bosland told Live Science in 2012 . Bosland said these blisters are the mucosa's attempt to destroy the top layer of cells and cushion the deeper layers with protective pus bubbles. Temporary deafness

A person may experience hearing loss after eating spicy food for two reasons. The larynx and ears are connected by a tube called the Eustachian tube, which helps equalize pressure in the inner ear. When the nose starts to secrete a lot of snot, like when you wrap a scarf around something spicy, it can block the Eustachian tube, Godrich told Live Science: "Then, in response, , people will feel like their hearing is declining," Godrich said. The same phenomenon occurs when you have a bad cold and the sounds of the world are wrapped in a cotton swab.

Another possibility is that the hearing loss is the result of excessive stimulation of the trigeminal nerve, said Dr. Chai, an otolaryngology and hearing loss specialist at Loyola Medicine. Marzo told Live Science that the trigeminal nerve provides sensory and motor control of the mouth and face and is connected to the cochlear nerve, which carries auditory information.

Migraineurs sometimes temporarily lose hearing due to excessive stimulation of the trigeminal nerve, the permeability of the blood vessels that supply the cochlear nerve. Mazo said something similar could be happening with Sumadivilla peppers.

"You *** the trigeminal nerve, which causes changes in blood flow in the cochlear nerve, giving you temporary hearing loss," he said.

As the *** weakens, so does the hearing loss. But some changes in blood flow to the cochlear nerve can cause permanent damage, Marzo said, so if the feeling of hearing loss doesn't subside quickly, regardless of the cause, it's best to see a doctor.

"If you are eating or taking medication and have a change in your hearing or vision that is not improving, get help right away," he says. Don't wait.

Although Sumadi Viglia has experience, but capsaicin may be more protective than damaging to hearing.

One particularly effective treatment for many cancers, platinum-based chemotherapy, has an unfortunate side effect of destroying the hair cells in the ears that are responsible for sensing sound waves, Goldrich said. He said some early research suggests that taking capsaicin along with chemotherapy can protect hair cells and prevent hearing loss. Godrich said no one yet knows why the pungent compound has this effect, but research is ongoing.

Is an original article about life sciences.