Losing Your Hearing? Blame Your Height

[Xen]

reported by Netscape
Hearing loss in adults could be the result of their short stature. That's the surprising finding of a Swedish study that actually goes so far as to conclude that short people are predisposed to hearing problems. The potential for adult hearing loss develops in the prenatal period, HealthDayNews reports of the research led by Marie-Louise Barrenas of the Goteborg Pediatric Growth Research Centre of Goteborg University.

The study: Two groups of men were recruited for the study. The first group included 479 men ages 20 to 64 who were exposed to noise on their jobs. A second group of 500 randomly-selected men all born in 1974 who were not exposed to noise on the job served as the control group. Data were collected on each man's height, weight, exposure to noise, heredity for hearing loss and other medical disorders, and the use of medication.

The results:

Unexpectedly, there was no association to noise exposure at work and hearing loss among the first group.

In the control group, short men were twice as likely as men of normal or tall height to suffer a hearing loss.

Shortness was associated with a family history of hearing loss.

Among the first group of workers, those who were short had worse hearing than expected for their age.

Short workers were three times more likely to have hearing loss compared with taller workers.

Short workers were 12 times more likely than taller workers to be taking medication.
Barrenas says that during gestation, there are various negative factors that can affect the growth of the fetus. One of these factors is a low level of the growth hormone IGF-1, which causes the newborn baby to have a reduced number of cells at birth. That causes the child to be shorter than normal. That has a lifetime effect on the individual's health and can increase the risk for early onset of age-related health problems, including hearing loss.

The research was published in the British Medical Journal.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/package.jsp?name=fte/losinghearing/losinghearing

well, thats kinda weird... who woulda guessed...

 

[Zwelgje]

I'm screwed...

 

[IceBlaZe]

Take these researches with a large grain of salt.
A lot of these researches are simply "filling up" the yearly necessity of professors who have to conduct research in order to keep their degree.
Of course this research could be a serious one, but I still advise short people not to cry over this.

 

[jpowers]

This from a country where the average height is 2 meters. I'd ask for a wider study group if I were the BMJ.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

That may be due to the fact that the ears of short people are situated further away from a normal speaker's mouth. But it also means short people can hear themselves better because the air density is greater at their lower altitudes, allowing sound to propagate better

 

[andrewgprv]

Tall man here with bad hearing problems.

 

[Eklektikos]

I'm much more inclined to blame loud music for any hearing problems I may develop in the future

 

[Superevie]

That's very hard to say whether or not that is accurate. The control group wasn't that large, so it can't be certain. There may be tall men that are predisposed to hearing loss, but they were just not involved in the small study. It's like having a group of five women with brown hair and two with blonde and the brunettes pick fights with everyone else in the room. Everyone then concludes all brunettes are agressive. Maybe this particular group of brunettes are agressive, but there are so many who are not. See what I'm getting at? The group is too small to tell whether or not this is accurate. Plus, look at your source. Netscape? Oh yeah, they kick Jama's butt when it comes to medical news.

 

[The Yankee]

Yes! Another victory for tall people worldwide! Woohoooooo!

Probably just speculation at this point.

 

[Mojotronica]

As long as I can still hear the voices in my head.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

Good thing I am tall.

 

[Knowze Gungk]

I Think it's safe to assume that this will only happen to other short people.

 

[Archer 007]

Originally posted by andrewgprv
Tall man here with bad hearing problems.

Same here.

 

[Garvarg]

This is going to make it harder for me to get away with telling my wife "what?...oh sorry I didn't hear you or I would have done it that way."

 

[cgannon64]

Ha, I'm 6 foot and only 14.

But wait, I listen to music loud.

 

[Shadylookin]

what is considered short? I'll wait for future studies before i go out and buy hearing aids

 

[Kilroy]

It's probably just that short people come from genetically inferior stock, and hearing problems are just one of the inevitable results of that. I'd bet that you'd find that short people are also more likely to have vision problems, are less coordinated, less intelligent, etc., than tall people.

 

[cegman]

hey most short people in the area of wisconsin i am in has more smart people that are short. But like this experiment it was a small area and very small group

 

[Mrogreturns]

"Hearing loss in adults could be the result of their short stature."

In the best tradition of popular science reporting.

 

[BorgeoisBuffoon]

I'm average height. Thank goodness I'll only suffer a bit.