Most people know diabetes can affect your eyes, your kidneys and your feet. Far fewer realise it can also affect your hearing — and yet the link between diabetes and hearing loss is well established. If you’re one of the many people on the Gold Coast living with diabetes or pre-diabetes, it’s worth understanding.
Can diabetes cause hearing loss?
In short — yes. People living with diabetes are about twice as likely to have hearing loss than people without it. That’s not a one-off finding: it comes from a review that pooled 13 separate studies covering more than 20,000 people across the US, Asia, Australia and Brazil. In fact, hearing loss is now recognised as one of the lesser-known complications of diabetes.
Why does diabetes affect your hearing?
Your inner ear is a surprisingly delicate piece of machinery. It relies on a network of tiny blood vessels and fine nerves to turn sound into signals your brain can understand. Persistently high blood-glucose levels — the same ones that damage the small vessels in your eyes and kidneys — can gradually damage those vessels and nerves in the ear too. Researchers have found that higher long-term blood-sugar levels (measured by your HbA1c) tend to track with a higher risk of hearing loss.
The tricky part is that it usually happens slowly. There’s rarely a single moment you notice — just a gradual creep that’s easy to put down to “getting older” or “everyone mumbles these days.”
What about pre-diabetes?
You don’t have to have a diabetes diagnosis for it to matter. People with pre-diabetes have around a 30% higher rate of hearing loss than those with normal blood-sugar levels — which makes it one more good reason to keep an eye on your numbers early.
Signs of diabetes-related hearing loss
The most common signs to watch for are:
- Struggling to follow conversations when there’s background noise
- Frequently asking people to repeat themselves, or to face you when they speak
- Turning the television up louder than the others need
- A ringing or buzzing in the ears (tinnitus)
- Finding loud sounds unfortable
Because these changes come on gradually, they’re easy to miss — which is exactly why regular checks are so valuable.
How to protect your hearing if you have diabetes
This isn’t a reason to worry. It’s a reason to be proactive, because a lot of it is within your control:
- Manage your blood glucose. Good long-term control is the single most protective thing you can do — and it’s good for your whole body, not just your ears.
- Protect your ears from loud noise, and go easy on headphone volume.
- Get your hearing checked. Diabetes Australia recommends everyone with diabetes have a hearing check at least every three years — and sooner if you’ve noticed a change. It’s quick, comfortable, and it gives you a baseline to track over time.
Hearing checks for people with diabetes on the Gold Coast
At Holistic Hearing in Mudgeeraba, a hearing assessment is more than a quick screen. We look at how well your ears detect sound and how well your brain makes sense of it — especially in the noisy, real-world situations where diabetes-related changes tend to show up first. If everything is healthy, you’ll leave with peace of mind and a baseline to measure against. If there’s a change, we’ll talk you through your options in plain language, with no pressure — the way we do everything.
If you or someone you love is living with diabetes, add a hearing check to the list. Book online, or call us on 07 5619 3007.
Frequently asked questions
Can diabetes cause hearing loss? Yes. Research shows people with diabetes are around twice as likely to experience hearing loss than people without diabetes, most likely because high blood-glucose levels damage the small blood vessels and nerves in the inner ear.
Is diabetes-related hearing loss reversible? Hearing loss from long-term high blood sugar is usually permanent, because the inner ear doesn’t repair itself. The encouraging part is that good blood-glucose control can help slow or prevent further loss — and if you already have some hearing loss, it’s very manageable with the right support.
How often should I get my hearing checked if I have diabetes? Diabetes Australia recommends a hearing check at least every three years, and sooner if you notice any change in your hearing.
Does pre-diabetes affect hearing too? Yes — people with pre-diabetes have around a 30% higher rate of hearing loss than those with normal blood-sugar levels.
Sources: Diabetes Australia — “Hearing loss and diabetes”; Australian Journal of General Practice, RACGP (2025) — “Diabetes and hearing loss”; Hearing Australia.
