Diabetes and the rate of hearing decline (Dillard et al., 2026)

<b>Purpose: </b>This purpose of this study was to determine the association of Type 2 diabetes with rate of hearing change per year.<b>Method: </b>Participants were from the Medical University of South Carolina Longitudinal Cohort Study of Age-related Hearing Loss. History of Type 2 diabetes was self-reported. Outcome measures were individual audiometric thresholds (0.25–8.0 kHz) and pure-tone average (PTA) of thresholds at frequencies 0.5–4.0 kHz, averaged bilaterally. We used linear mixed regression models to determine the association of diabetes with the rate of annual threshold change at each frequency and PTA, separately. Results are presented as regression coefficients with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs).<b>Results: </b>This study included 1,333 participants with a mean age of 63.5 (<i>SD</i> = 14.5) years and a mean of 4.7 (<i>SD</i> = 5.5) years of follow-up; 57.7% were female, and 18.1% were of a racial Minority. The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes was 10.4%. Most (85.3%) participants with diabetes reported the use of diabetes medication(s). Participants with and without diabetes showed similar hearing thresholds at the baseline examination, with mean PTAs of 24.5 (95% CI [23.7, 25.2]) dB HL for participants without diabetes and 24.8 (95% CI [22.6, 26.9]) dB HL for participants with diabetes. Moreover, participants with and without diabetes showed similar rates of annual hearing change in models adjusted for age, sex, and race; PTA change was 0.90 (95% CI [0.86, 0.94]) dB for participants without diabetes and 0.87 (95% CI [0.73, 1.02]) dB for participants with diabetes.<b>Conclusions: </b>Diabetes was not consistently associated with baseline hearing thresholds or rate of change. Additional longitudinal studies are needed to clarify relationships of diabetes and hearing over time.<b>Supplemental Material S1.</b> Mean baseline thresholds and PTA (dB HL) and rates of audiometric threshold and PTA change per year (dB) by diabetes. Values correspond to those plotted in Figure 1.<b>Supplemental Material S2.</b> Mean baseline thresholds and PTA (dB HL) and rates of audiometric threshold and PTA change per year (dB) by diabetes and race. Values correspond to those plotted in Figure 2.Dillard, L. K., Bainbridge, K. E., Matthews, L. J., &amp; Dubno, J. R. (2026). Self-reported type 2 diabetes and the rate of hearing decline in aging. <i>Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, </i><i>69</i>(1), 409–416. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_JSLHR-25-00364