A recent study in Japan indicates that cigarette smokers, especially heavy smokers, have a higher risk of permanent hearing loss than non-smokers. The researchers, under Dr. Noriyuki Nakanishi of Osaka University, examined the effects of smoking on the rate of hearing loss in close to 1,600 male Japanese office workers. Other risk factors aside, the more a man smoked, the greater his chance of hearing loss in the high-frequency range (the low-frequency range showed no effects). This was true whether the smoking was measured in the number of cigarettes per day, or the total number of “pack-years” smoked in a lifetime. For example, a man who averaged a pack of cigarettes per day for 40 years had more than twice the risk of high-frequency hearing loss as a man who never smoked.
Researchers were uncertain of the reason that smoking increases the risk of hearing loss. Smoking may have a direct toxic effect, or it may reduce blood flow to the structures involved in hearing. The overall lower health of smokers as compared to nonsmokers may also be to blame.
Based on a report from Safety Currents
