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The occurrence of hearing loss in diabetes patients is twice that seen in people without the disease, according to research by Catherine C. Cowie, PhD, and Kathleen Bainbridge, PhD. Their study was released at a poster session at the American Diabetes Association's 67th Scientific Sessions, held June 22–26 in Chicago.
To reach that finding, Cowie and Bainbridge analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). They focused on 5,140 NHANES participants, ages 20–69, who underwent audiometric testing and completed questionnaires about their diabetes status during 1999–2004.
Of the participants, 399 reported having diabetes; the majority had type 2. The cross-sectional sample represents the U.S. population at large, the researchers say.
Using average hearing thresholds assessed at four frequencies in the speaking-voice range (500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 Hz)—the researchers' analysis reveals that 31.6% of diabetic participants experienced hearing loss, compared with 14.5% of non-diabetic participants, after accounting for the increased hearing loss that accompanies aging.
The amplified odds of hearing impairment in diabetic participants also occurred independently of gender, race and ethnicity, education, socioeconomic status, and past exposure to noise, says Cowie, director of the Diabetes Epidemiology Program at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Md.
"You see the increased hearing loss in diabetes across all race groups, both sexes, all levels of education—it's really robust," says Cowie.
In her view, the results indicate that people with diabetes should get their hearing tested at the onset of the disease.
"Type 2 diabetes is insidious, so you don't even necessarily know you have it in the beginning, at a time that complications of diabetes may be developing," she says. "But once hearing loss is found, you can most likely do something about it."
Cowie adds that hearing loss may be a diabetes complication comparable with others, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. Those complications occur two to four times more often in people with diabetes than in those without it, she notes.
However, more research is needed to understand the biological mechanisms of hearing loss in diabetes, says Cowie.
"These data are cross-sectional, and it would be best to tease out
possible neural and vascular underpinnings of hearing loss in diabetes using
longitudinal data," Cowie says. 
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