Air Pollution Is A Silent Thief of Hearing
- Sanket Jain
- Aug 7
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 17
Before his hearing loss became permanent, Ashok Suryavanshi noticed his ears had become worse and worse for six years.
“I kept thinking that it would get better in a few days,” the 66-year-old said. But time passed, and he did nothing.
Those few days turned into weeks, months, and years until even the horns of passing vehicles in his village of Jambhali in the western Indian state of Maharashtra became barely audible. “I couldn’t afford to visit a doctor as I had to work the farms to make ends meet,” Suryavanshi said.
He finally visited an otolaryngologist, who initially prescribed ear drops that brought no relief. “He had warned us that it was too late and suggested only a hearing aid could help,” said Akkatai Suryavanshi, his mother, who is now in her 90s.
At the same time, Akkatai also noticed her daughter and daughter-in-law losing their hearing ability over the years. “It wasn’t a mere coincidence,” she said. In her effort to find out what was affecting their hearing, she first spoke to the villagers and discovered that it had become a pattern in Jambhali, a village with roughly 5,000 residents, most of whom work in the fields. “Many people are struggling with hearing health in the village,” she said.
Nearly everyone she spoke to had one thing in common: they were all exposed to toxic air while working.
Every day, Ashok spends at least eight hours working in fields near clusters of polluting industries, automotive factories, textile units, and a mix of small and medium-scale manufacturing plants. This puts him at continuous risk of harmful exposure.
When Akkatai shared these findings with a doctor, he confirmed that air pollution could indeed be damaging their hearing health. While factors such as loud noise, aging, injuries, and chronic illnesses can cause hearing impairment, a growing number of studies have found an unusual connection between air pollution and hearing loss.
About 1.5 billion people globally are currently living with hearing loss, and the World Health Organization estimates that by 2050, about 2.5 billion people worldwide will experience some level of hearing loss, with over 700 million needing hearing rehabilitation.
A 2024 study analyzed over two decades of data from China and found that even short-term spikes in the levels of contaminant PM2.5 (any particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers that can easily enter the lungs) can significantly raise the risk of ear diseases. Older populations living in underprivileged regions can be especially vulnerable to these risks.
Study author Ning Zhang, a Senior Fellow in the Department of Land Economy and Fellow at Darwin College at the University of Cambridge, said that air pollution contains carbon monoxide, lead, and mercury, which are ototoxic, meaning they can damage the ear and nerves, leading to hearing loss.
Prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide lowers the oxygen levels in the blood, causing a condition called hypoxia. The tiny hair cells in the inner ear, essential for hearing, are highly sensitive to this. A long-term oxygen deficiency can cause permanent damage to these cells. Since they cannot regenerate, it can lead to irreversible hearing loss.
Ototoxic chemicals can also harm the cochlea (the part of the inner ear responsible for hearing) and the nervous system of the ear, which transmits auditory signals from the ear to the brain. This can impact hearing, balance, as well as other nervous system functions.
“Persistent exposure to air pollution may also lead to oxidative stress,” Zhang said, which occurs when there are too many harmful molecules and the body doesn’t have enough strength to eliminate them. This stress can damage the ears.
Additionally, air pollution can disrupt the circadian rhythm through sleep disorders, interfering with the natural sleep cycle and lowering the essential proteins the body needs. This disruption may lead to nerve damage and inflammation-related diseases, affecting the ears.
A study from South Korea examined over 15,000 adults and found that long-term exposure to common air pollutants, such as PM10 (particulate matter 10 micrometers or smaller in diameter), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide, was a significant risk factor for hearing loss, leading to reduced blood flow and damage to cell membranes. A long-term Taiwanese study highlighted certain delayed effects of air pollution, where increased exposure to ozone and nitrogen dioxide could raise the risk of hearing loss days or weeks later.
Worried about his grandchildren’s health, Ashok has advised his family to keep them away from high-pollution areas. His fears aren’t unfounded. Research from New Mexico shows that maternal exposure to particulate matter can damage a newborn’s hearing.
Besides industrial and traffic emissions, the household and agricultural burning of firewood, charcoal, and farm residue remains a source of harmful air pollution. “Every morning, people burn a lot of firewood, plastic seedling trays, agricultural residue, and more to boil water for bathing,” Akkatai said.
Globally, 2.1 billion people cook using open fires or inefficient stoves. One of them is 76-year-old Malutai Magdum from Jambhali, who started experiencing hearing loss almost a decade ago, which she says has continued to worsen.
“Earlier, she could hear us if we spoke loudly, but now her hearing ability has severely declined,” said her daughter-in-law, Vandana Magdum, who stays by her. For three years, she underwent treatment, but said nothing worked. “The doctor then asked me to use a hearing aid, but it felt too uncomfortable, so I didn’t use it,” Magdum said.
Malutai has been working in the fields for over six decades. “Since we work in the fields for at least 10 hours daily, there’s no way to escape this pollution, which drifts into the fields and homes,” she said. With the rise of factories, her problems worsened. “Throughout day and night, there’s smoke,” Vandana said. She says the problem is so severe that many villagers now have respiratory and lung issues, and hearing problems have also become common.
A study found that in China, people who used solid fuel for cooking had a higher risk of developing hearing loss compared to those who used clean fuel, with older individuals facing an even greater risk.
The pollution is so bad that Vandana always carries Vicks VapoRub. “Many times, I struggle to breathe because of air pollution, so I keep it with me.” Seeing Magdum’s worsening hearing health, Vandana feels worried. “If pollution keeps rising, we will be facing the same problems in a few years,” she said.
Despite these warning signs, many continue with their routines, unaware of how polluted air affects their bodies.
“Everyone keeps working in the fields, but no one pays attention to the air they’re breathing or how it’s silently killing them,” Akkata said.
Ashok has also been reflecting on the rising air pollution and how most people, including himself, have long overlooked it. “I shouldn’t have ignored those warning signs.”
