Hearing Impairment: Diabetes Links to Hearing Loss

Diabetes with its many effects can be one of the causes of hearing impairment. Its onset can cause early hearing loss among diabetics. Hearing loss can be an embarrassing situation especially for the younger people. See the diabetes links to hearing loss and how this can be prevented.

Diabetes links to hearing impairment

Hearing impairment is one of the major problems of people with diabetes. The kind of hearing loss they experience is different from the one caused by old age.

Hearing loss and diabetes are linked medically for many years, even with diabetic children. Regular hearing tests are highly recommended for diabetics as part of their regular screening. Hearing loss is often the result of a number of ways diabetes affects the ears. A person with diabetes can lack keratin protein, the one which forms a protective layer within the ear canal, making the wax to travel outwards and likewise prevents over stimulation of the tissue of the ear canal. Abnormal levels or absence of keratin protein can cause hearing impairment.

The way diabetes deteriorates the epithelial tissue in the ear canal causes hearing loss. This is the second link between diabetes and hearing loss that can cause over sensitivity of the ear canal to plastics used in hearing aids eventually causing fungus, yeast, infection and irritation when air circulation is limited by a hearing aid.

The third link is nerve damage or neuropathy, a common complication that most diabetics experience. High blood glucose levels cause chemical changes in the nerves. This can destroy their ability to transmit signals. When the nerve damage happens in the neurological system of the ears, hearing problems or speech understanding can be hard.

Ear protection and hearing loss cure

Diabetics with hearing impairment protect their ears when being exposed to noise to prevent more damage. Damage caused by diabetes is usually in the nerves and inner ear blood vessels. Heart disease and stroke can also cause hearing loss and ear damage.

Doctors should remind their diabetic patients to include ear checkup in their routines. This is as important as other screenings like vision screenings, foot infections and others.

Some of the products that can assist diabetics with hearing impairments are TV listening devices, amplified telephones, and hearing aids.