New Study Finds Vaping Doesn’t Harm Voice Quality Like Smoking Does

Article from ChurnMag.com
New Study Finds Vaping Doesn’t Harm Voice Quality Like Smoking Does - ChurnMag


The new research improves the case for e-cigarettes as a harm reduction tool

For as long as vaping has been in the public eye, people have been wondering about the long-term effects. While a growing number of peer-reviewed studies has supported the belief that vaping is much safer than smoking, there is still a very long way to go before we know as much about the effects of e-cigarettes as we’d prefer. For example, most of the current research on vaping has been focused on traditional health and lung function indicators. This means that we still don’t know much about the effect of e-cigarettes on things that aren’t necessarily life and death matters.

That’s why it’s great to see research published that looks into something like this. A new study hopes to help answer one of these questions, namely what sort of effect does vaping have on vocal chords and overall vocal quality. Published in the Journal of Voice, the study ultimately concluded the impact of e-cigarettes on the voice is much milder than traditional cigarettes. These results could prove to be another nail in the coffin for the argument that vaping and smoking as essentially the same thing.

New Study

The new research was led by Dr. Birgül Tuhanioğlu, head and neck surgeon out of the Health Science University Adana City Hospital. Dr. Tuhanioğlu and his team set out to understand better the impact of vaping on otolaryngological diseases usually associated with smoking. The cross-sectional study used 81, otherwise healthy, participants, who were broken into three groups, vapers, smokers, and non-smokers. To limit any unrelated variations, all of the test subjects were male, 21 vapers along with 30 smokers and 30 non-smokers. They tested for different things such as F0, jitter percentage, shimmer percentage, shimmer decibels, and harmonics-to-noise ratio among others. The subjects were all tested by the same parameters, providing statistically comparable information for the researchers.

After going over all of the data, the researchers noticed some interesting patterns. For instance, the average Voice Handicap Index 10 scores of the vaping group were only slightly higher than the non-smoking group, while the smoking group had hugely elevated levels. Not just that, but the shimmer decibel score of the smokers was much higher than either the vaping or non-smoking groups, while the harmonics-to-noise ratio was much lower. While these figures might not mean much to the average person, the researchers were convinced that the effect of vaping is much milder than what is observed with smoking. But this isn’t the first time that research has made the value of e-cigarettes apparent.

Mounting Evidence

While it’s great to see more evidence on the overall value of e-cigarettes, there’s already a lot of work on the long-term effects of vaping on health. Luckily, the majority of this research has resoundingly concluded that not only is vaping an excellent harm reduction tool, but it may actually be the best smoking cessation tool we have as well. Many in the vaping community are well aware of the famous report conducted by Public Health England back in 2015 that concluded vaping is at least 95% safer than smoking. But a lot fewer in the community know about a study published last fall that may even be more encouraging than the PHE study. Research published in the Journal of Aerosol Science found that the excess lifetime cancer risk of vapers is around 57,000 times lower than a comparable smoker.

If that wasn’t enough evidence of value, the evidence is starting to solidly back up claims that vaping can be a key to finally quitting smoking for good. A study published last fall by researchers out of the University of Louisville found that not only are e-cigarettes a valuable smoking cessation tool, but they may actually be the best one we have. The researchers tested and tracked the effectiveness of a myriad of different smoking cessation tools and aids. They ultimately concluded that vaping is even more likely to help a smoker quit for good than prescription drugs like Chantix.

Implications

For a long time now the discourse about vaping has often ended up being about a lack of reliable evidence. As we start to nail down the more significant questions surrounding the efficacy of vaping, it’s about time some researcher began turning their attention toward lesser explored questions. That’s why it’s great to see a study like this that makes the clear observation that vaping is not negatively affecting vocal quality in the same way smoking does. We must work to uncover the full truth about vaping and what it does to our bodies. The more that these answers are shrouded in mystery, the harder it’ll be for the general population to accept vaping for its harm reduction and smoking cessation value. That’s why we must help spread information like this, especially studies that reinforce the fact that vaping and smoking are not the same.