Would you be willing to go deaf for sex? That might seem like a silly supposition, but hundreds of cases of “Viagra deafness” have been reported worldwide, with sudden hearing loss following shortly after taking impotence drugs like Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra.

Researchers in England asked drug watchdog groups worldwide if they had received reports of such incidents. The Daily Mail reports that 47 suspected cases of sensorineural hearing loss—a rapid loss of hearing in one or both ears—had been linked to the three aforementioned drugs.

Eight were from the UK. Another 223 reports made in the U.S. were excluded from the study due to lack of detail. The average age of those affected was 57, although two of the men  involved were only 37, the journal The Laryngoscope reports. It is not clear how long the problems lasted, but this type of hearing loss, more commonly due to infections and exposure to loud noise, usually causes permanent damage in up to a third of cases.

The British researchers are not sure how Viagra might affect hearing, but it may be that the chain of chemical reactions it triggers have knock-on effects in the inner ear.

Dr Afroze Shah Khan, of Charing Cross Hospital’s ear, nose and throat department, said: ‘Medical practitioners involved in the prescription of these drugs need to be vigilant about this potential side-effect.’

But Britain’s drugs watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said complaints of hearing loss linked to Viagra are ‘extremely rare’.

A spokesman added that reports of an adverse reaction to a drug do not prove the medicine caused it.

Still, the connection between Viagra and hearing loss probably carries more scientific weight than the connection between masturbation and blindness.