“Age-related Hearing Loss”? It’s Time to Retire the Term and Find a Replacement

Purpose: To examine whether socioeconomic position and major lifestyle risk factors are associated with hearing loss, using data from ELSA wave 7 (n=8,529 participants, aged 50-89).Methods: Hearing was measured using an audiometric screening device and HL defined as >35dB at 3.0 kHz, in the better-hearing ear. Using multiple logistic regression modelling we examined the association of hearing loss with non-modifiable factors (age, gender), partly modifiable factors (socioeconomic indicators), and fully modifiable lifestyle risk factors (body mass index, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption). Results: Those in a lower socioeconomic position were up to two times more likely to have hearing loss. In addition, several modifiable lifestyle factors (such as high body mass index, physical inactivity, and excessive smoking and alcohol consumption) were involved to a large extent in the pathways of the association between socioeconomic position and hearing loss.Conclusion: Hearing loss may be a potential preventable lifestyle disease and not necessarily an inevitable accompaniment of the ageing process, paving the way for the term “lifestyle-related hearing loss”, where lifestyle refers to social practices and ways of living adopted by individuals that reflect personal, group, and socio-economic identities, instead of the non-inclusive term “age-related hearing loss”.