Not just teens, apparently .....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11758345
Hearing loss linked to passive smoking
Quote:
People who are exposed to the second-hand smoke from others' cigarettes are at increased risk of hearing loss, experts believe.
Doctors already know that people who smoke can damage their hearing.
The latest study in the journal Tobacco Control, involving more than 3,000 US adults, suggests the same is true of passive smoking.
Experts believe tobacco smoke may disrupt blood flow in the small vessels of the ear.
This could starve the organ of oxygen and lead to a build up of toxic waste, causing damage.
The harm is different to that caused by noise exposure or simple ageing.
Passive smoking increased their risk of hearing loss across all sound frequencies by about a third.
Dr David Fabry, who led the research, said: "We really do not know exactly how much smoke you need to be exposed to in order to be at increased risk. But we do know that the threshold for damage is very low. Really, the safe level of exposure is no exposure."
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