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Posted by & filed under Audiologists, Diabetes & Hearing Loss, Hearing Aid Centers.

Diabetes and hearing loss are two of America’s largest health concerns. Nearly 30 million people in the U.S. have diabetes and an estimated 34.5 million have some type of hearing loss. Now it appears there is a good deal of overlap between the two.

Combining the results of 13 previous studies, Japanese researchers found that impaired hearing was twice as common among people with diabetes compared to those without.  And the effects of older age did not seem to explain it.

In fact, the link between diabetes and hearing loss was actually STRONGER among people under 60 years of age than among older adults.

In the younger group, people with diabetes had a 2.6 times higher likelihood of impaired hearing.

Not only that, but of 86 million adults in the U.S. who have pre-diabetes, the rate of hearing loss is 30 percent higher than in those with normal blood glucose.

With these things in mind, we recently attended the 2014 Take Control Of Your Diabetes Health Fair at the Iowa Events Center where our Doctors of Audiology tested the hearing of many of the attendees.

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Since it can happen slowly, the symptoms of hearing loss can often be hard to notice. It can be so subtle that family members and friends sometimes notice the hearing loss before the person experiencing it.

Here are just a few of the signs you may be experiencing hearing loss

  • Frequently asking others to repeat themselves
  • Trouble following conversations that involve more than two people
  • Thinking that others are mumbling
  • Problems hearing in noisy places such as busy restaurants
  • Trouble hearing the voices of women and small children
  • Turning up the TV or radio volume too loud for others who are nearby

If you meet one or more of the criteria on this list, the time to act is now.

And if you are diabetic, we understand the importance of proper treatment for hearing loss and we invite you to come in to Woodard for a full hearing exam where you’ll learn more about your hearing loss and what can be done to treat it.

Call us today to schedule your appointment with one of our Doctors of Audiology and let us help improve the quality of your life.

We refuse to settle for less than the best and we hope you will do the same.