Prevalence of hearing loss among patients with type 2 diabetes

The auditory pathway is the main target for high levels of blood sugar. Increased glucose in diabetic patients can disrupt the auditory system physiologically and anatomically. The present study aimed to examine the prevalence of hearing loss in patients with type 2 diabetes. A total of 94 patients with type 2 diabetes, aged from 40 to 80 years, were selected randomly in the present descriptive cross-sectional study for pure tone audiometry (PTA), speech discrimination score (SDS), and speech reception threshold (SRT) tests. Accordingly, patients with a hearing threshold larger than or equal to 25 dB were considered hearing-impaired according to the PTA test. In addition, the patients' speech discrimination score was measured using a list of monosyllabic words with an intensity of 40 dB or more than the SDS test. However, in the SRT test, the patients' superficial speech comprehension threshold was measured using a list of two-syllable words. Most diabetic patients had hearing loss in both right and left ears based on the PTA and SRT tests. However, they did not have hearing loss in both ears according to the SDS test. There was no correlation between the PTA, SRT, and SDS tests and blood creatinine levels in both ears (p>0.05). Nevertheless, the right ear had a positive correlation with systolic blood pressure only in the PTA test (p<0.05). The difference between the two groups of men and women with type 2 diabetes in the hearing level in the right and left ears was not statistically significant. Hearing loss is a common deficiency in diabetic patients. In addition, it seems that diabetes is an independent risk factor for the hearing loss level.