On deafness

- Published: 16 May, 2008

Forget your iPods, industrial workplace noise, over-vigorous use of Q-tips... the main cause of deafness is - you guessed it - unhealthy living. Or so believed our resident agony-uncle-from-the-grave, Dr Allinson.

On deafness: "In adults, bad habits are the commonest cause of deafness. Such habits are smoking tobacco, drinking stimulants, over-feeding, taking insufficient exercise, breathing impure air, and not keeping the skin-pores open through proper baths. All these habits produce a disordered system, and deafness may result."