New research links smoking and body mass index to hearing loss

Smoking and body mass index (BMI) are risk factors in the development of age-related hearing loss, says one of the largest-ever studies into risk factors for hearing loss – but alcohol has a protective effect. The study has just been published online in Springer's Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (JARO). The results are also being presented at the International Society of Audiology Congress in Hong Kong today.