Hearing health experts have suspected that smoking contributes to hearing loss since an initial study in 1962; however, on-going studies confirm it. Smokers are 70 percent more likely than non-smokers to suffer hearing loss, according to an article in the June 1998 Journal of the American Medical Association. The study also found that non-smokers living with a smoker were twice as likely to develop hearing loss as those who were not exposed at all.

Young smokers’ hearing health is at risk, too. Researchers from the New York University School of Medicine found that teens exposed to cigarette smoke are to two to three times as likely to develop hearing loss compared to those with little or no exposure. Eighty percent of the participants in the 2011 study had no idea their hearing health had been affected.

Cigarettes contain a lot of nasty chemicals, including formaldehyde, arsenic, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and nicotine. Nicotine and carbon monoxide deplete oxygen levels and constrict blood vessels all over your body – including those in your inner ear responsible for maintaining hair cell health.

  • Nicotine interferes with neurotransmitters in the auditory nerve, which are responsible for telling the brain which sound you are hearing.
  • Nicotine can cause tinnitus, dizziness and vertigo.
  • Smoking irritates the Eustachian tube and lining of the middle ear.
  • Smoking damages cells in the body, turning them into free radicals that can damage DNA and cause disease.
  • Smoking may also make you more sensitive to loud noises and therefore more susceptible to developing noise-induced hearing loss.

Content provided by HealthyHearing