hearing damage

Previous researches have already established that second-hand smoke causes similar harms as direct smoking including lung cancer, ear infections, heart diseases, respiratory prblems, and cognitive impairment.

Experts believe that smoking disrupts the blood flow in ear vessels. This leads to deficiency of oxygen in the organ, which further results in accumulation of toxic waste, causing the impairment.

Reportedly, second hand smoke (SHS) is known to produce more particulate-matter (PM) pollution compared to an idling low-emission diesel engine.

Study details

Researchers from Ghent University, Belgium, found that an hour of listening to music on headphones may prove detrimental, resulting in hearing loss.

Daily Mail quoted Emma Harrison, Director of Public Engagement, Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), UK as saying, “Many people regularly use personal music players and are often not aware that they could be putting their hearing at risk.”

Research details

Bill Hodgetts, assistant professor, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta, who led the study stated, "People generally listen to music at reasonable levels of volume, but we've found that exercising, mainly because of the background noise, can influence people to turn up the volume to potentially unsafe levels for the ear.”

Details of the study