Hearing loss is also one of the harmful effects of smoking.

Japanese researchers confirm that smoking has a negative impact on hearing and that the risk of hearing loss varies with the number of cigarettes smoked. The results of this study also conclude that the phenomenon is reversible, thus supporting the relevance of smoking cessation recommendations.

The association between smoking and hearing loss has been a topic of debate in the scientific community for decades. In June 1998, based on a sample of 3,753 individuals, a study estimated the increased risk of hearing loss for smokers to be 1.69 times greater than for non-smokers.[1]In 2014, researchers at the University of Manchester, UK, echoed these conclusions after observing the hearing of 164,770 adults aged 40 to 69.[2]The latest study, conducted by researchers at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Japan, looked at a sample of 50,195 working adults between the ages of 20 and 64 over a period of up to 8 years.[3]This 2018 study uses data collected during hearing tests carried out as part of annual professional medical visits and shows that the risk of hearing loss is:

- 1.4 times higher among smokers consuming between 1 and 10 cigarettes per day; - 1.5 times higher for consumption between 11 and 20 cigarettes per day; - 1.7 times higher for those consuming more than 20 cigarettes per day[4].

Causes

Clearly, it is not the existence of the link between smoking and hearing loss that remains a mystery to the scientific community, but rather the process. Several avenues still need to be refined to determine whether it is poorer oxygenation of the cochlea or a disruption in the role of neurotransmitters carrying sensory information along the auditory nerve that is the cause.[5]However, it is clear that in both cases, it is nicotine that is involved.

A harmful effect of smoking that is nevertheless reversible… and avoidable!

After analyzing hearing loss over time following smoking cessation, Japanese researchers revealed that this phenomenon is not irreversible. The risk of hearing loss actually decreases over the 5 years after completely quitting smoking. It should be remembered that childhood exposure to secondhand smoke is responsible for sensorineural hearing loss and therefore constitutes a risk factor in childhood hearing loss.[6].

©Generation Without Tobacco

[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/187596#top

[2] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140606091541.htm

[3] https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article-abstract/21/4/481/4925604?redirectedFrom=fulltext

[4] https://sciencepost.fr/le-tabagisme-sattaquerait-egalement-a-laudition/

[5] https://www.agxhearing.com/2014/06/30/relationship-smoking-hearing-loss/

[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24246243/

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