With nearly 31 Million people dealing with diabetes, it is commonplace for everyone to know someone (or multiple people) dealing with the disease. A recent study found that those dealing with diabetes are twice as likely to develop hearing loss than people without diabetes and of the 84 million adults who have prediabetes, the rate of hearing loss is 30% higher than those with normal blood glucose. And just as alarming, if the hearing loss is left untreated, they are 200%-500% more likely to develop dementia. (Johns Hopkins study, Dr. Frank Lin, MD, PhD)
Blood vessels can be damaged by the effects of high blood glucose levels and this can in turn cause damage to organs, such as the heart, eyes, and EARS! High blood glucose levels over long periods of time are known to lead to the blood vessels becoming damaged and destroyed. How the damage occurs is not so well understood, but it's impact on people is well understood, and is very real.
What we do know is that there is a snowball effect in that diabetes contributes to hearing loss and hearing loss contributes to cognitive decline and dementia.