Connection Between Comorbidities and Hearing Loss
Diabetes/Kidney Disease & Hearing Loss
Diabetes affects hearing in several ways:
- Diabetics experience hearing loss at more than double the rate of those without diabetes.
- High blood pressure can damage the small blood vessels in the cochlea of individuals with diabetes, which can result in sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
- When blood sugar rises, nerves in the ears break down — the same nerve damage that causes tingling and other symptoms in the fingertips and toes.
- Our hearing mechanisms rely on specialized hair cells that are fragile and susceptible to the effect of increased glucose in blood.
Dementia & Hearing Loss
Older adults who wear hearing aids can likely reduce their risk of dementia in half compared to those who don’t manage their hearing loss.
- When left untreated, hearing loss makes it difficult for the brain to hear and retain information.
- This can leave you feeling fatigued, forgetful, and more likely to withdraw from social situations.
- åHearing aids reduced the rate of cognitive decline in older adults at high risk of dementia by almost 50% over a three-year period.
Cancer Treatment & Hearing Loss
Chemotherapy and radiation can lead to:
- Hearing loss in up to 84% of patients
- Ototoxic drugs can result in sensorineural hearing loss, disequilibrium, or both.
- A much higher risk of noise-induced hearing loss.
- Tinnitus, distorted hearing, auditory hallucinations/phantom sounds, and hyperacusis.
Heart Disease & Hearing Loss
Hearing loss occurred 54% more often in individuals with heart disease than in the general population.
- Your inner ear is so sensitive to blood flow that abnormalities in the cardiovascular system could be noted here earlier than in other, less sensitive parts of the body.
- Audiogram patterns correlate strongly with cerebrovascular and peripheral arterial disease and may represent a screening test for those at risk.
Balance & Hearing Loss
The correlation between falling and hearing loss is significant. Even a mild degree of hearing loss triples the risk of an accidental fall, with the risk increasing by 140% for every additional 10 decibels of hearing loss.
Falls are the leading cause of accidental death in adults over the age of 65.
- Twenty-nine percent of emergency department visits by persons aged 65+ were related to injury. Unintentional falls accounted for 13.5 percent of those visits.
- Medical costs from falls are about $30 billion a year.
- Research shows that hearing aids made a definitive difference in balance.
- During heel to toe testing, participants with their hearing aids turned on were able to maintain balance for twice as long as when their hearing aids were turned off.
