The Smoking and Hearing Loss Connection

In 2020-2021, approximately 10.7% of Australian adults smoked every day. This is a significant drop from the 15.70% of daily smokers in 2015. Still, thousands of Australians are struggling to give up this addictive habit for good.

If you're trying to quit and need some motivation, it may help to better understand the risks of smoking on your long-term health. Though some risks of smoking are widely known, many are surprised to learn that smoking can have a negative impact on hearing.

The Effects of Smoking

To understand how smoking can impact your hearing, it's important to know how smoking affects the body. Cigarettes are made with tobacco, a plant that contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive drug with depressant and stimulant effects. The effects of nicotine, beyond being addictive, tend to get overlooked due to the dangers of tobacco smoke. Nicotine, however, is part of the relationship between cigarettes and hearing loss. 

How Can Smoking Affect Hearing?

Tobacco smokecontains carbon monoxide, tar, and toxic chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde, and benzene. The nicotine in tobacco and the carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke are the substances linked to hearing loss. Carbon monoxide can raise carboxyhaemoglobin levels, which can lower blood oxygen levels and constrict blood vessels. Nicotine can have the same effect.

Low blood oxygen levels and constricted blood vessels can result in less oxygen available for the organ of Corti — an organ located in the cochlea, a part of the inner ear. Your inner ear, or the hair cells within your inner ear, are responsible for converting sound waves into electrical energy for the brain. Without these hair cells, your brain can't properly interpret sound waves. 

Naturally, damage to the inner ear from smoking can result in hearing loss — putting smokers at a higher risk. One clinical study of 3,753 subjects found that smokers were 1.69 times as likely to have hearing loss as nonsmokers. 

The connection between smoking and hearing loss doesn't stop there. Nicotine and cigarette smoke are believed to cause other issues in the body that could result in hearing loss. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Irritating the Eustachian tube
• Releasing free radicals that can cause disease
• Disrupting neurotransmitters in the auditory nerve

Smoking can also increase your sensitivity to loud noises, which can make you more likely to develop noise-induced hearing loss. This is especially a concern among smokers that work in noisy environments.

Taking Control of Your Health

Not all damage caused by smoking is reversible, but some (namely in the lungs) can be. Hearing loss resulting from damage to the inner ear is permanent, but you can take steps to try and prevent it from getting worse. 

Giving up smoking isn't easy, but thousands of Australians are doing it successfully year after year. Speak with your doctor to learn more about the effects of smoking and what resources are available to help you quit for good.

Understand the State of Your Hearing

Are you worried that you've already lost some of your hearing due to smoking? You can gain insights into your hearing and learn about possible treatment options by contacting us to schedule a hearing test today.