Researchers at University of Queensland are calling hearing loss a “hidden epidemic” in diabetes care, urging that hearing tests be added to routine diabetes check-ups because people with diabetes are more than twice as likely to develop serious hearing loss.
What the research shows
- Scale: About 1 in 4 adults with diabetes, or roughly 130 million people worldwide, live with serious hearing loss.
- Who it affects: It often strikes working-age adults in their 40s and 50s, not just those with long-standing diabetes. Even people who have had diabetes for less than 10 years are more than twice as likely to develop significant hearing loss compared to those without diabetes.
- Evidence base: The call comes from Dr Mehwish Nisar at UQ’s School of Public Health after reviewing 29 studies with over 17,000 people globally, mostly with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.
Why it matters
- Daily impact: Hearing loss fuels isolation and creates communication challenges during prime working years.
- Current gap: While retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy are routinely monitored in diabetes care, hearing impairment is not systematically integrated into protocols despite clear links.
- Awareness: Most people, including many patients, don’t know diabetes can cause serious hearing loss.
What researchers recommend
- Add simple hearing tests to every diabetes check-up using low-cost audiometric screening.
- Detect early: Hearing loss progresses gradually and patients often miss it until advanced. Early detection allows for timely hearing aid support and better glucose management to slow further deterioration.
- Act sooner: “Waiting for advanced complications before checking hearing is waiting too long,” Dr Nisar said.