A large study published in Heart has revealed a surprising and important link between hearing loss and heart failure. The research suggests that people with impaired hearing are more likely to develop heart failure—and that psychological stress may partly explain the connection.
Hearing loss is becoming more common, especially as people age. At the same time, heart failure, a serious condition where the heart can’t pump blood properly, now affects around 64 million people globally.
While earlier research hinted that hearing loss might raise the risk of heart disease due to social withdrawal, this new study is one of the first to examine whether actual, measured hearing ability is linked to heart failure.
To investigate this, researchers analyzed data from over 164,000 adults in the UK Biobank. These participants, with an average age of 56, did not have heart failure at the start of the study and were tracked for more than 11 years.
Hearing was tested using a standard tool that measured how well participants could recognize spoken numbers in noisy environments—a real-world skill known to decline with hearing loss.
Most people in the study had normal hearing, but about 10.5% had “insufficient” hearing and 1.5% had “poor” hearing. Roughly 4,400 participants developed heart failure during the follow-up period.
After adjusting for age, health, and lifestyle factors, researchers found that those with insufficient hearing had a 15% higher risk of developing heart failure, and those with poor hearing had a 28% higher risk. Even people using hearing aids had a 26% higher risk compared to those with normal hearing.
The study also looked at mental health and personality traits, including psychological distress, social isolation, and neuroticism (a tendency to experience negative emotions).
These were more common among people with hearing loss and appeared to partly explain why their risk of heart failure was higher. For instance, psychological distress alone accounted for 17% of the increased risk in those not using hearing aids.
When all three mental health factors were combined, they explained just over 9% of the increased heart failure risk. This suggests there’s a complex interaction between hearing loss and emotional well-being, and both may affect heart health.
However, since the data were collected at a single time point and mostly involved healthy, white participants, the results may not apply to everyone.
Still, the findings make sense biologically. The inner ear relies on a dense network of tiny blood vessels and has a high energy demand, making it very sensitive to changes in blood flow and circulation. As a result, hearing loss might be an early warning sign of broader vascular problems, including issues with the heart.
One interesting discovery was that wearing hearing aids didn’t eliminate the added risk of heart failure. This could mean that while hearing aids improve sound, they don’t fix the underlying blood vessel problems that might be behind both hearing loss and heart disease.
Researchers believe the emotional toll of hearing loss could play a big role. People with difficulty hearing may avoid conversations and social events, leading to loneliness, anxiety, or depression. These mental health challenges can activate stress responses in the body, increase inflammation, and place extra strain on the heart—ultimately contributing to heart failure.
In conclusion, this study highlights the need to consider hearing health as part of overall heart health.
Doctors may need to screen for hearing problems during heart checkups, and people with hearing loss might benefit from not just hearing aids, but also psychological support to reduce stress. Addressing both hearing and emotional well-being could be a vital step in preventing heart failure.
If you care about hearing health, please read studies about antibiotic drug that can lead to hearing loss, and whether you should get an hearing aid or see a specialist.
For more health information, please read studies about how the Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and these antioxidants could help reduce dementia risk.
The research findings can be found in Heart.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
