Environmental Noise in Omdurman ,Smoking and Age are combined Risk Factors for Hearing Impairment

Abstract

Effect of Smoking and environmental noise on hearing impairment investigated in 440 youth and middle age people (21-50 years old) living in Omdurman . Participants were divided into 4 groups , non smokers and Smokers in noisy area between 70-90 d B & nonsmokers and smokers Living in quiet area,45-55 dB ,Smoking was associated with hearing loss at 8ooo Hz., in both bivariate and multivariate analysis .An additive interaction at high frequencies mostly at 8000 Hz between smoking and noise appeared after age 40 years .At age 21-39 years old ,neither smoking nor environmental noise had a significant adverse effect on hearing capacity at low frequencies