Study Clarifies Link Between Hearing Loss and Heart Failure

A recent study has concluded that hearing loss increases a person's risk of developing severe heart failure.

The British news agency PA Media reported that researchers indicated that the stress caused by hearing loss plays a "significant" role.

Determining Hearing Ability

For the study, experts in China analyzed data from the UK Biobank of 164,431 people who completed tests designed to determine their hearing ability.

These people were divided into three groups based on their performance on the Triple Digit Test, which screens for hearing problems using random combinations of numbers in noise.

At first, none of the participants had heart failure. However, over a follow-up period of more than 11 years, 4,449 developed heart failure.

Heart Failure Problems

The researchers concluded that those with a higher speech threshold, meaning they need a louder volume to understand words, had a greater risk of developing heart failure.

"Compared to those with normal hearing, participants with insufficient hearing, hearing loss, or hearing aid use had an increased risk of heart failure," the researchers said.