A new study from Yale University finds that teens who smoke are at risk for hearing loss, according to a BBC report.
In tests on 67 teenagers ages 13 to 18, university researchers found that teens exposed to smoke had trouble focusing and interpreting sounds when there was a distraction.
Researchers also found that teens exposed to tobacco smoke had more white matter in the brain. White matter is the part of the brain responsible for communication and transmitting messages.
The findings were reported in New Scientist magazine.
Previous research has shown that children with overdeveloped white matter have problems transmitting and interpreting sound because the white matter it is out of sync with the rest of the brain.
The study found these changes in both teens who smoked and teens whose mothers smoked while pregnant.
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