Hearing Loss From Second Hand Cigarette Smoke
A recent US study has found exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke can double the likelihood of causing hearing loss among teens and young adults. The results could also have implications for the many thousands of workers either near to or have recently taken retirement.
Many workers, both male and female, are highly likely to have been exposed to second-hand smoke in their early working lives when working in industry or the many other occupations up until the 1970s and 80s, where cigarette smoking had not yet been banned inside most workplaces and was still a highly prevalent activity.
The second-hand smoke risk may also compound or exacerbate any hearing damage likely to occur from working in excessively noisy premises and causing noise induced hearing loss before Control of Noise at Work Regulations from the 1990s onwards became more rigorously enforced.
The health risks of exposure to second-hand smoke are well known. In addition to the high probability of contracting cancers and lung and heart diseases in adults, young people can be subject to increased severity of asthma attacks and suffer middle ear infections.
Results of the study found that young adults exposed to second-hand smoke were more likely to have sensorineural hearing loss. This type of hearing loss is most often caused by problems with damage to the cochlea of the inner ear and usually occurs during the ageing process later in life.
When tested for response at mid-to-high frequencies, which are important for understanding speech, those individuals who had greater cigarette smoke exposure showed a ‘one-sided’ low-frequency hearing loss. Over 80 per cent of affected participants were unaware of having a problem, albeit a ‘mild’ hearing loss, which may be due to damage to the ear’s delicate blood supply and often the most difficult to recognise until the condition deteriorates over time
Even when an inability to hear distinctly becomes very apparent, it may also be difficult to accept that action needs to be taken until too late.
As recently as July 2011, figures released reveal that 1 in 6 of the UK population, i.e. over ten million people, have some form of hearing loss. Nearly four million are aged between 16 to 64, over 40 per cent aged 50 upwards, increasing significantly to over 70 per cent for people above the age of 70.