Can you hear me?
Study amplifies effects of smoking, obesity on ear function
Study amplifies effects of smoking, obesity on ear function

By Heather Warlick

Published: August 19, 2008

The more you smoke and the heavier you are, the more you risk suffering from hearing loss, according to a new study.

Studies also say hearing loss can result in depression and substantial financial losses.

Though it notes that repeated exposure to loud noises is still the No. 1 cause of hearing loss, an Antwerp University-led study released last month found smoking and obesity are two significant factors that can lead to hearing loss.

"If you are obese or if you are a smoker and you're also around loud noise, you're even more at risk for hearing loss,” said Jace Wolfe, an Oklahoma City audiologist.

The ear is a vascular organ formed of many delicate structures that require large amounts of oxygen and nutrients to function.

The reason smoking and obesity can affect hearing is similar to the reasons those factors can affect other organs. In smokers and overweight people, lack of blood flow to the ears, coupled with failure to remove toxic waste from the ears, can impair hearing.

"If you are overweight or a smoker, your cardiovascular function is not going to be as good as if you didn't do those things,” Wolfe said.

"It's not a surprise that it makes you more at risk for hearing loss,” he said.

The study could be particularly relevant in Oklahoma since the state's number of smokers and obese people is higher than the national average.

According to 2006 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28.1 percent of Oklahomans are obese, and 25.1 percent of Oklahomans smoke.

The Antwerp study also found that the more you smoke or the more obese you are, the greater your chances for hearing loss.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, hearing loss is the third most common chronic condition among older Americans and the most common for men older than 65. It's also the most frequent disability present at birth, Wolfe said.

"So, definitely, it is an epidemic,” he said. "More and more frequently we see teenagers and young adults that have hearing loss that you would typically see someone have in their 50s or 60s, because they're exposed to really loud car stereos or they're listening to iPods or video games with earphones that are capable of presenting really high levels of noise. Recreational noise has become a big concern.”

But it's not just loud noises, smoking and obesity that can lead to hearing loss.

Genetic factors can play a role, Wolfe said. In the past several years, scientists have identified hereditary genes that could predispose a person to hearing loss.

"I do think that if you had either of those two factors (smoking or obesity) and were exposed to loud noise or maybe you were genetically predisposed to having hearing loss, they would work together in a synergistic fashion where the hearing loss would be worse than it was if the person was fit and a nonsmoker,” Wolfe said.

Another recent national study of more than 40,000 households links hearing loss with significantly lowered income.

On average, hearing loss was shown to impact household income up to $12,000 per year, depending on the degree of hearing loss.

And researchers have long noted strong connections between hearing loss and depression, social isolation, low self-esteem and difficulty functioning.

"Certainly, there are really significant consequences socially that go along with hearing loss,” Wolfe said. And hearing loss is generally permanent and irreversible.

That's the bad news. The good news is that hearing aid technology has been progressing rapidly — about as fast as cellular phone technology. That's because the two use similar digital technology.

While little financial backing went into hearing aid research a decade ago, booming cellular industry research has trickled over into the hearing aid industry.

"The computer chips that they use in contemporary digital hearing aids are as sophisticated as what was seen in a laptop or desktop computer a few years ago,” Wolfe said.

Modern-day hearing aids are tiny and sophisticated enough to analyze sounds and determine if that signal is a sound of interest, such as speech, or background noise such as an air conditioner or road noise.

A cochlear implant, also called the bionic ear, is a surgically implanted device that can help people who have profound hearing loss regain their hearing.

Cochlear implants work by converting sounds into electrical impulses and delivering them directly to the main hearing nerve. In the United States, about 23,000 adults and 15,500 children have received cochlear implants.

Another prospect for treating hearing loss is preventing it in the first place with the help of a pill — The Hearing Pill.

Funded by the U.S. military, the pharmaceutical has been shown in lab studies to help protect and repair damage from acute noise-induced hearing loss.

It has not, however, been found effective against genetic, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) or autoimmune disorders.

"That's really promising work in an area where they're still doing more research to determine how successful that is,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe offered several tips for protecting your hearing:

•Don't smoke.

•Maintain your fitness level.

•Avoid exposure to high level noise. Wear hearing protection if you participate in work or activities that expose you to loud noises.

•Have your hearing checked often.

"Particularly when you start that kind of activity, I would have a hearing evaluation within the first three months just so you can catch any progression of hearing loss early on and take steps to try and stop that progression,” Wolfe said.

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