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Uncontrolled diabetes may result in hearing loss in women, much like it affects vision or kidney function, according to the results of a new study.

“There have been studies that demonstrate that hearing loss is greater in diabetics than normal individuals,” study investigator Kathleen L. Yaremchuk, MD, Chair, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, told Formulary. “This is the first study that demonstrates that the control of the diabetes can impact the degree of hearing loss that occurs in diabetics.”

The study was presented January 26 at the annual Triological Society’s Combined Sections Meeting in Miami Beach, Fla.

The investigators conducted a retrospective chart review of 990 patients who had audiograms performed between 2000 and 2008. Patients were classified by gender, age, and diabetic control (as determined by the American Diabetes Association guidelines that use HbA1C blood levels). Read more . . . →

Imagine yourself in a country where nobody speaks your language. It becomes a necessity to rely on your other senses and hone your powers of observation. You welcome the times when you can “fill in the blanks” and get the gist of a conversation. Each situation is stressful: Will you be a participant or an observer?

This is the life of a hearing-impaired person.

We are not deaf, and, therefore, most of us do not read lips, sign or wear hearing devices 100% of the time. We try to preserve whatever hearing we have left. We walk softly on the fine line between the hearing and deaf communities.

Even our friends are selected carefully. We cultivate friendships based on who is sensitive to our needs. They are the people who are willing to speak a little louder and more distinctly. They are the people who are willing to repeat themselves if they see from your expression that you didn’t hear all that was said. They don’t wait for you to apologize or “phase out” of a difficult-to-hear conversation. They make sure that you never feel ashamed because of your disability.

Read more . . . →

A new study led by a Johns Hopkins researcher suggests that having hearing loss triples the risk of falling down for people in their 40s and later. The findings are regardless of whether the hearing loss is moderate or severe.

The finding could help researchers develop new ways to prevent falls, especially in the elderly, and their resulting injuries that generate billions in health care costs in the United States each year, by some estimates.

To determine whether hearing loss and falling are connected, Frank Lin, MD, PhD, at Johns Hopkins, and his colleague Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD, of the National Institute on Aging, used data from the 2001 to 2004 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Read more . . . →

Yale scientists have discovered the molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur: Mitochondrial DNA mutations trigger a signaling cascade, resulting in programmed cell death. The study is in the Feb. 17 issue of Cell.

Mitochondria are cellular structures that function as “cellular power plants” because they generate most of the cell’s supply of energy. They contain DNA inherited from one’s mother. Mitochondria determine whether a cell lives or dies via the process of programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

The Yale scientists focused on a specific mitochondrial DNA mutation that causes maternally inherited deafness. The mutation occurs in a gene that codes for RNA in mitochondrial ribosomes, which generate proteins required for cellular respiration. The team found that cell lines containing this mutation are prone to cell death not directly due to the mutation, but rather because it enhanced a normal chemical modification of the RNA called methylation, which regulates ribosome assembly.

Read more . . . →