Researchers are calling for routine hearing tests to become part of standard diabetes care after a major review found about one in four adults with diabetes is living with clinically significant hearing loss.
The systematic review and meta-analysis found that people with diabetes are more than twice as likely to experience serious hearing loss as those without diabetes, and hearing impairment is a significant but under-recognised complication of diabetes.
The authors concluded that hearing impairment should be recognised alongside eye, kidney and nerve disease as an important complication of diabetes.
Their research was published in the July 2026 issue of Diabetes Metabolism Research and Reviews on 23 June 2026.
Lead author, medical doctor Dr Mehwish Nisar, from the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health, said hearing loss remained largely overlooked despite affecting an estimated 130 million people with diabetes worldwide.
“One in four adults with diabetes – or about 130 million people worldwide – are living with serious hearing loss,” she said.
“Diabetes is the world’s fastest growing chronic disease, affecting over half a billion people, and people with diabetes are more than twice as likely to experience serious hearing loss.”
The researchers reviewed 29 international studies involving more than 17,000 adults, most with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. They found diabetes was associated with more than double the risk of clinically significant hearing loss compared with people without the condition.
While diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy are routinely monitored in clinical practice, the authors said hearing impairment remains a “significant, yet under-recognised, complication” that is rarely included in diabetes management.
Dr Nisar described the issue as a “hidden epidemic” and said greater awareness was urgently needed.
“This isn’t a minor inconvenience; hearing loss in people with diabetes often strikes working-age adults in their 40s and 50s, affecting daily conversations, fuelling isolation and creating significant communication challenges,” she said.
Researchers said hearing loss often develops gradually, meaning many patients do not notice symptoms until communication difficulties become more severe. However, they noted clinically significant hearing loss can be detected using audiometric testing.
Routine screening supported
“The more than two-fold increased risk identified in this review supports the integration of routine audiometric screening into standard diabetes care, with particular urgency for younger adults,” Dr Nisar said.
“The damage may begin much earlier than people think and even people who have lived with diabetes for less than 10 years are more than twice as likely to develop significant hearing loss compared with those without diabetes.”
She said identifying hearing loss earlier could allow timely intervention with hearing aids and hearing rehabilitation, helping reduce social isolation and improve communication. Better management of blood glucose levels may also help slow further hearing deterioration.
The authors said incorporating routine hearing assessments into diabetes care pathways could improve quality of life for millions of people while ensuring hearing loss is managed before it becomes disabling.
“It is widely known that diabetes affects the eyes, kidneys and nerves but almost no one knows it can also cause serious hearing loss,” Dr Nisar said.
“Waiting for advanced complications before checking hearing is waiting too long.”
Dr Nisar is a Research Fellow in the University of Queensland’s Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences and an affiliate of the university’s Centre for Hearing Research (CHEAR.) Other authors were director of the CHEAR and Professor of Audiology at the University of Queensland, Professor Piers Dawes, doctoral student Anjana Rajagopal from the university’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, epidemiologist Dr Shamshad Karatela from Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Melbourne, and ENT surgeon Associate Professor Beenish Nisar Ahmed from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Avicenna Medical Complex Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan.
The studies were conducted across Asia (n = 14), Africa (n = 4), the Middle East (n = 3), Europe (n = 3), North America (n = 3), and Australia (n = 2), representing a broad geographic and socioeconomic distribution
The study was entitled Hearing Loss in Adults With Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
