A study has revealed that hearing loss is connected to opioid use, and in some situations, can sometime cause a person to go completely deaf.
According to the study, which took at a small sample of 23 men who reported opioid abuse. Fifty percent of the men who reported that they had not be exposed to loud noises in the past experienced hearing loss during the study. The findings indicate that opioid abuse can have an effect on an individual’s auditory senses, even when that individual has never before been exposed to loud sounds that could potentially damage their hearing.
While those individuals who had not experienced hearing loss in the past had a 50% chance of experiencing hearing loss as a result of opioid abuse, those who had been exposed to loud noises before engaging in opioid abuse saw higher rates of hearing loss.
When the individuals had been exposed to loud noises for hobby-related reasons, the study identified a 58% chance that they would experience hearing loss as a result of opioid abuse. For those individuals who had been exposed to loud noise in an occupational environment, the likelihood that they would experience hearing loss as a result of opioid abuse rose high still. For those who had prolonged exposure to loud noise in an occupational environment, the study concluded there was a 100% likelihood of hearing damage in connection with opioid abuse.
While the dangerous addiction nature of opioids is more widely known that it has been in the past, some of the negative consequences of opioid are not discussed as often. Although opioids can have an ototoxic effect, causing the user to experience a loss of hearing, this side effect is not often brought up when considering the possible fallout from opioid use. Furthermore, if an individual’s hearing has been compromised by exposure to loud noise in recreational or occupational situations, they may be at greater risk for hearing loss due to opioid abuse.
