A new study revealed that second-hand smoke causes hearing loss in many individuals who breathe it. Previous research already proved that smoking can cause hearing loss among smokers themselves, and this new study is the first to confirm a link between hearing loss and second-hand smoke.
Researchers have theorized that smoke can disrupt blood flow within the ear’s small blood vessels. When this happens, it may prohibit the ears from receiving enough oxygen and cause a build up of toxic waste, which negatively affects hearing.
The newest study involved just over 3,300 patients who were screened between 1999 and 2004 as part of the annual U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. All of these patients, aged between 20 and 69 years of age, were classified as passive smokers (inhalers of second-hand smoke) based upon significant levels of cotinine in their blood. Cotinine is a byproduct of nicotine.
Researchers examined hearing-test results in the low, mid, and high frequencies, and they found that second-hand smoke was harmful to a higher percentage of patients who were former smokers.
The results revealed that 14% of former smokers exposed to second-hand smoke had impaired hearing in low to mid frequencies, while 46% of the same former smokers had high-frequency hearing loss. High-frequency hearing loss is particularly harmful because it often makes speech sound muffled, and hard to understand amid background noise.
The findings led researchers to conclude that hearing loss among former smokers will continue to progress if they are exposed to second-hand smoke after they quit smoking.
Among patients who had never smoked, hearing loss was not as substantial, but it was still statistically significant. Nearly one in 10 never smokers experienced low-to-mid frequency hearing loss, and a little more than one in four suffered high frequency hearing loss.
The study, which was performed by researchers from the University of Miami and Florida International University, found that men are much more likely to experience high-frequency hearing loss, along with older participants, as well as diabetes patients. This was true whether the patients were former smokers or never smokers.
The results of the study appear in the British Medical Journal Tobacco Control. Because this study was the first regarding second hand smoke and its negative effects on hearing loss, the researchers called for further studies to determine whether passive smoking increases the effects of noise exposure and ageing on hearing.
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