One in Four with Diabetes Experiences Hearing Loss – EMJ

ONE in four adults with Type 2 diabetes experience clinically significant hearing loss, a new systematic review and meta-analysis has found.1 

This was particularly apparent in younger adults and resource-limited populations. 

Diabetes and Sensory Complications 

Retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy are commonly recognised and routinely monitored microvascular complications of diabetes. 

However, authors reported, hearing impairment is a significant, yet often overlooked, sensory complication.2 

The study also follows recent findings that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist use is tied to smell and taste disturbances. 

Serious Hearing Impairment for One in Four 

Researchers ultimately included 29 studies, totalling more than 17,000 participants, in analysis, all but one of which examined Type 2 diabetes.1 

The single study analysed prediabetes. 

Eleven studies found that diabetes doubled hearing loss odds against control cohorts.  

Researchers estimated that approximately one in four adults with Type 2 diabetes is living with serious hearing impairment.  

At-Risk Populations 

The link between Type 2 diabetes and hearing loss was strongest in adults younger than 60 years. 

Further, the heightened risk was also present in people who had been living with diabetes for less than 10 years. 

Low- and middle-income countries showed the highest risk for hearing loss among diabetic populations, compared with high-income countries. 

This poses particular challenges as the risk for hearing loss is highest where access to audiology services and hearing aids is most restricted. 

Audiology and Diabetes Care 

Researchers noted that, because the review include observational studies, findings cannot establish that diabetes causes hearing loss, only that the two variables are linked. 

Findings do, however, support the integration of audiometric screening into standard diabetes care. 

References 

1 Nisar M et al. Hearing loss in adults with diabetes and prediabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetes/Metab Res Rev. 2026;DOI:10.1002/dmrr.70195. 

2 Nisar M, Dawes P. Diabetes and hearing loss: a call to action for early detection and prevention. Aust J Gen Pract. 2025;54(10):747–749. 

Featured image: Andrey Popov on Adobe Stock