Medical flat lay featuring a central slip of paper printed with the word "DIABETES" in bold black text, surrounded by torn newspaper snippets of health headlines, a blue stethoscope, glucose test strips, and a digital blood sugar monitor.

Does diabetes affect your hearing? What the research shows

By Hearology® Publishing. Professionally reviewed by James Leare. Last reviewed on 01.9.26. Next review due on 02.9.27.

Key takeaways:

People with diabetes are around twice as likely to experience hearing loss as those without, according to a large US study.
High blood sugar can damage the small blood vessels and nerves that supply the inner ear — the same mechanism behind diabetic eye and kidney complications.
Even pre-diabetes was linked to a higher risk in the same research, suggesting changes can begin before a formal diagnosis.
The hair cells inside the cochlea can't repair themselves once damaged, so early identification matters.
A hearing check is a sensible addition to routine diabetes monitoring, alongside eye and kidney screening.

You watch your blood sugar. You monitor your eyes, your kidneys - and your feet. This is the well-worn checklist for every diabetes health checkup. However, despite substantial evidence that diabetics are significantly more likely to experience hearing loss, hearing is rarely mentioned as part of this routine.

Why is the inner ear so vulnerable?

Meet the cochlea: a tiny, snail-shaped structure tucked away in the inner ear that allows you to hear. The cochlea converts sound waves into signals your brain can understand. To do this, it needs a constant blood supply. Inside the cochlea sit thousands of specialised hair cells which, once damaged, cannot repair themselves. Damage too many of them and hearing loss will be evident.

Diabetes can affect this system in two ways. Persistently high blood sugar wears down the tiny blood vessels that feed the inner ear, starving the cochlea of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to function. The very same process is at work behind diabetic eye and kidney damage. Hearing just doesn’t get the same spotlight.

Diabetes can also affect the auditory nerve that carries sound signals to the brain. When that nerve is affected, signals to the brain become scrambled or delayed, making conversations in busy restaurants harder to follow - even if the results from a basic hearing test look normal.

The numbers don’t hold back

This is not a fringe finding. A major US-based investigation involving 5,140 participants revealed that auditory issues are notably more prevalent within the diabetic population. Once age and other variables were accounted for, the prevalence of high-frequency hearing loss was twice as likely for those with diabetes. Even more strikingly, people with pre-diabetes - where blood sugar is raised but not yet in the diabetic range - showed a 30% higher risk, suggesting that the damage can begin before a formal diagnosis is even made.

A meta-analysis in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism backs this up, finding that the longer someone has had diabetes - and the less well controlled it is - the greater the risk of impact on hearing tends to be.

This type of hearing loss usually affects high-frequency sounds first, meaning that the early signs can be easily missed as you start to miss the subtle s, f, and th sounds that make speech intelligible. Mishearing words or losing the thread of conversation in a noisy room are easily put down to simply not paying attention. It's one reason hearing loss so often goes unaddressed for years.

"Many of our clients with diabetes are surprised to discover that their hearing has changed - not because they weren't paying attention, but because the early signs can be so subtle,” comments James Leare, a Hearology® Clinical Audiologist. “Many are unaware of the connection between diabetes and hearing loss. This damage cannot be reversed, so getting your hearing assessed regularly is one of the simplest, most proactive things you can do for your long-term health."

What you can do about it

If you have diabetes, don't ignore changes in your hearing. If you're noticing difficulty following conversations, particularly in noisy environments, asking people to repeat themselves or regularly increasing the television volume, consider having your hearing assessed. Maintaining consistent glycaemic control is still your primary defence against the wider complications of diabetes, alongside managing blood pressure, limiting prolonged noise exposure, and not smoking.

For people with diabetes who have hearing concerns or additional risk factors, taking a hearing test, as Leare suggests, is a very worthwhile next step if only to set a benchmark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does diabetes cause hearing loss?

Diabetes doesn’t directly cause hearing loss for everyone, but research shows a clear association. People with diabetes are significantly more likely to experience hearing loss, largely because raised blood sugar can damage the small blood vessels and nerves that supply the inner ear.

Can hearing loss from diabetes be reversed?

No. The hair cells inside the cochlea that convert sound into signals cannot repair themselves once damaged, so hearing loss caused by this type of damage tends to be permanent. This is why early identification and ongoing blood sugar management matter.

What are the early signs of hearing loss linked to diabetes?

Early signs can be easy to miss. You may find yourself asking people to repeat themselves, struggling to follow conversations in noisy places, or turning the television up. High-frequency sounds are often affected first.

How often should people with diabetes have their hearing checked?

There’s no single rule that applies to everyone, but many clinicians suggest treating a hearing check like annual eye or kidney screening: as a routine part of monitoring the condition rather than something to wait for until a problem becomes obvious.

References

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-149-1-200807010-00231 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18559825/ - Landmark study in the Annals of Internal Medicine of over 5000 adults finding that hearing loss is twice as prevalent in people with diabetes, with the same correlation present in those with pre-diabetes

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/98/1/51/2823051 - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism meta-analysis of data, confirming that longer duration of diabetes and poorer blood glucose control are directly associated with greater degrees of hearing impairment

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/type-1-diabetes/complications/ - NHS patient guidance explaining how high blood glucose damages small blood vessels and nerves throughout the body - the core mechanism behind diabetic hearing loss

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/national-diabetes-audit/report-1-care-processes-and-treatment-targets-2021-22-full-report/section-1---incidence-and-prevalence-17-18---21-22-copy - Official NHS audit data on the rising prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes across England and Wales

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2021-part-2/adult-health-diabetes - NHS National survey data showing that 6% of UK adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, with prevalence rising significantly with age