Objectives: To investigate the associations between socioeconomic and lifestyle factors and measures of hearing ability; to better understand potential risk factors for hearing loss. This insight could help audiologists identify high-risk demographics, and ultimately contribute to addressing inequalities in hearing health.

Design: An online study which collected questionnaire data on participant demographics, lifestyle and socioeconomic status, including age, gender, ethnicity, region of residence, income, education, occupation, exercise frequency, height and weight, smoking status, and weekly alcohol consumption. Participants also self-reported their auditory function using the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale 12 (SSQ-12 (Noble et al., 2013)) and completed an online digits-in-noise (DiN) task to assess speech perception ability. A sample of 274 45-65-year-olds (M age = 53.84, SD = 5.91) were recruited based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) income groups using Prolific.

Results: Two multiple regression models were conducted with the outcome variables of self-reported auditory function (SSQ-12) and behavioural speech perception ability (DiN). Being a regular smoker/tobacco consumer was significantly associated with worse self-reported auditory function (SSQ-12 scores) as compared to never-smokers. There were no significant predictors of speech perception ability (DiN task scores).

Conclusions: These data suggest that tobacco consumption may be associated with perceived hearing ability. It is possible that increased oxidative stress, induced by smoking, damages the inner ear, affecting hearing ability. However, we did not find an association between behavioural speech perception ability and tobacco consumption; which raises questions about the underlying mechanism. It is also possible that the measure of speech perception ability (DiN scores) was not sensitive enough to detect variations in hearing ability within our target sample. Tobacco consumption rates are higher among disadvantaged groups, which relates to previous findings that lower socioeconomic status correlates with hearing loss. Future research should explore the neurobiological mechanisms behind the effect of lifestyle and socioeconomic factors, such as smoking, on auditory function.