Cigarette Smoking and Middle Ear Disease
Cigarette smoking is most injurious, because the smoke is so often blown through the nose, and at the same time enters the eustachian tube. The tobacco smoke is laden with fine particles, which gain access to the middle ear and irritate its lining membrane. While this does not admit of actual demonstration, it is rendered highly probable by the fact that disturbances of the taste and smell are unquestionably produced in this manner, and are frequently observed in habitual smokers. The long continuance of such an irritation gives rise to a chronic inflammation of the middle ear. The characteristic want of sensibility in the mucous membrane of the throat and nose of smokers who suffer from chronic angina is due to the benumbing influence of tobacco.