Passive smoking has proved itself to be a major negative health issue that affects millions of people worldwide and now further research is linking smoking to hearing loss. Following a detailed analysis of statistics, specialist journal Tobacco Control revealed in November 2010 that there was a strong pattern emerging between smoking and poor hearing and in the July 2011 issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, it was revealed that exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles the risk of hearing loss among adolescents.