If you are a parent and needed another reason to quit smoking, here it is: A new study links second hand smoke, or SHS, to a reduction in teens’ ability to hear both high and low frequencies.
If you are a parent and needed another reason to quit smoking, here it is: A new study links second hand smoke, or SHS, to a reduction in teens' ability to hear both high and low frequencies.
According to the study conducted at New York University, researchers analyzed interviews of 1,533 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19. In addition, the teens were given physical exams, hearing tests and a blood tests for cotinine, a chemical byproduct of nicotine exposure. Roughly 12 percent of SHS-exposed kids had mild to severe hearing loss in one ear, compared to less than eight percent of kids without smoke exposure. More than 80 percent of the affected kids were unaware they had any hearing impairment. The study was published in the July issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.
Of course, SHS has been linked to many ailments in kids, including behavioral problems, and lung and ear infections. And this population is already at risk of early hearing loss because its of high use of ear buds and music players such as iPods. I have covered this problem extensively in previous blogs.
So if you are around kids on a regular basis, try not to smoke around them—and consider quitting. You owe it to yourself and your children.
The American Cancer Society has more on secondhand smoke.