Study Reveals That Secondhand Smoke Can Cause Hearing Loss
You can add another danger to the list of risks associated with secondhand smoking. It is well-documented that secondhand smoke dramatically increases the risk of heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmokers and can be controlled only by making indoor spaces smoke-free. Doctors already knew that smoking could damage hearing, but now a new study, conducted by the journal Tobacco Control, has revealed that exposure to secondhand smoke significantly increases the risk of hearing loss.
The findings of the study, taken from the hearing tests of more than 3,000 non-smoking adults, show that tobacco smoke causes a disruption in the blood flow of the ear, starving it of oxygen and allowing buildup of toxic waste. This type of hearing loss differs compared to hearing loss occurring as a result of aging and noise exposure. So how just how bad is it for those adults exposed to smoke? Adults who were exposed to smoke were far more likely to have poor hearing. In fact, the report says that the damage may be so extensive that these adults may find it difficult to follow a conversation if combined with background noise.
What Can Be Done to Combat the Serious Danger of Secondhand Smoke?
You may be wondering how you can protect yourself and those around you from the very real dangers associated with secondhand smoke. Do not allow smoking in your home. If you have a smoker over your house ask them to smoke outside, or if absolutely necessary, limit smoking to a separately ventilated room. You may also encounter smokers in the workplace. It is crucial that your workplace be totally smoke-free or, at the very least, limited to a separate, enclosed area, with its own ventilation system. If your office does not have these safeguards in place, it is important to push your office for an acceptable solution as soon as possible.
There are substantial dangers associated with secondhand smoke. Just because someone else makes the decision to smoke, does not mean you should have to pay the price of potential hearing loss. People can lose the ability to hear in different ways, but exposure to secondhand smoking shouldn’t be among those possibilities. There are simple safeguards that can be implemented to eliminate the serious health risks of secondhand smoke for countless people. Preventative measures need to be implemented quickly before the damage is irreversible.
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