The dangers to children of secondhand smoke have long been known. Since 1964, numerous U.S. Surgeon General’s reports have made clear the health issues linked to tobacco and secondhand smoke in children.

According to the American Cancer Society, “children’s growing bodies are especially sensitive to the poisons in secondhand smoke. Asthma, lung infections and ear infections are more common in children who are around smokers.”

Doctors from New York University Langone Medical Center

New research indicates secondhand smoke can cause hearing loss in teens. The research was conducted by team of doctors from New York University Langone Medical Center, in New York City. The findings were reported in the June, 2011 issue of the publication Archives of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery.

The authors

The report was authored by Anil K. Lalwani, MD; Ying-Hua Liu, MD, PhD; Michael Weitzman, MD. The physicians are affiliated with the Departments of Otolaryngology, Physiology, Neuroscience, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry, and the Institute for Community Health, all within New York University Langone Medical Center.

The hypothesis

The study investigated the hypothesis that secondhand smoke exposure is associated with sensorineural hearing loss in adolescents. Researchers focused on 1,533 adolescents 12 to19 years of age, who did not smoke. The young people were tested for cotinine, a marker for exposure to secondhand smoke.

The research findings

Results indicated that:

• More than half of the group-799 individuals-had continine levels indicating they had been exposed to secondhand smoke.
• The more cotinine contained in the participant’s blood, the more likely they were to have a hearing loss.
• The group who had the highest concentration of cotinine in their blood had hearing loss at low frequencies.
• The teens with hearing loss were largely unaware of their hearing loss

Results suggest more research is needed

The researchers stated their findings do not conclusively prove that secondhand smoke causes hearing loss in teens. However, they suggest more research is necessary.

One option: have your teen’s hearing checked

The authors suggest that teens exposed to secondhand smoke be checked periodically for low frequency hearing loss. Hearing tests are most often performed by an audiologist, who uses an audiometer to evaluate an individual’s hearing at different frequencies. Often, audiologists also conduct simple tests to learn if parts of the ear are functioning properly. These tests are usually painless. Oftentimes, major medical insurance will pay for hearing tests.

Where you can learn more

For much more information about the research, visit http://archotol.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/137/7/655.

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to EPIC Hearing Health Care and a clickable link back to this page.

Most individuals who use hearing aids or cochlear implants will tell you that while their devices can be extremely helpful in hearing one or several speakers at close range, they can be less successful at deciphering what’s being said over an airport’s public address system, in a large chapel during a church service or even at a ticket-seller’s window.

“Hearing Loops” are changing that, by making most hearing aids and cochlear implants also function as customized wireless loudspeakers. Loops transmit sound clearly and directly into the hearing device, with zero background noise.

Consumer advocates are working with the Hearing Loss Association of America and the American Academy of Audiology to let more people know about hearing loops and have more loops installed in public places around the country.

Widespread in the United Kingdom

These aids for the hard of hearing have been used in the United Kingdom for more than a decade. Mandated there by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, you’ll find hearing loops in churches, auditoriums, the service windows of banks and post offices and even the back seats of taxicabs.

How they work

Hearing Loops are technically known as “audio induction loop systems” or “audio-frequency induction loops”. They consist of a loop of cable around a designated area, usually a room or a building. The cable generates a magnetic field detected by a telecoil, a tiny pickup coil used in the majority of hearing aids made after 2009, and nearly all new cochlear implants.

Why they are popular

Hearing loops allow the sound source, whether it’s a theater performance or the words a bank teller speaks at the service window, to be transmitted to the hearing-impaired listener without the background noise, reverberation or static. This YouTube video created by hearing loop advocate and audiologist Juliette Sterkens, lets you hear the dramatic difference a hearing loop makes.

Better than neck loops

Users also find hearing loops more simple, convenient and customized than the older type of assisted listening device known as the “neck loop.” These are most often found in large public spaces such as theaters, sporting arenas and concert halls. There are several drawbacks to these FM or infrared receiver/headset units. You have to find where in the venue they are being issued, check one out and wear the eye-catching (and not in a good way) device around your neck. Aside from the social stigma, some uses complain the sound quality that neck loops provide is not as good as the sound from hearing loops. Understandably, relatively few people with hearing loss use neck loops.

Where you can find hearing loops

Hearing loops are often found in high-traffic public buildings and major airports (for public announcements), concert halls, ticket kiosks, auditoriums and places of worship. Individuals can also have hearing loops installed in their homes.

For much more information, visit the nonprofit informational website www.hearingloop.org. In the “Let’s Loop America” portion of the website, you’ll also find the objectives and strategies used to make Holland-Zeeland area of Michigan (near Grand Rapids) a model looped community.

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to EPIC Hearing Health Care and a clickable link back to this page.