"High, life-long alcohol consumption leads to damage in the central auditory cortex of the brain," said lead researcher Dr. Elisabeth Stephanie Smith from the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic at the University of Ulm in Germany.

For the study, researchers examined electrical currents in the brain that indicate response to sound. Half of the 38 men studied were head and neck tumor patients who drank heavily, while the other 19 were plastic-surgery patients who were moderate drinkers.

The hearing tests found that all the men took two to four milliseconds longer than normal to process sound.

"Chronic alcohol consumption leads to defects of the central auditory brainstem, which cause delay in neurotransmission time," said Smith. "This finding can be explained by the loss of white matter in the brain and delay in neurotransmission through the loss of neurotransmitters."

Smith added that the study showed that "even an amount of alcohol consumption which is normally accepted by society can lead to a negative effect on the central auditory system."

The study's findings are published in the March 2004 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

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