“What’d You Say?” 5 Signs Diabetes is Affecting Your Hearing

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), more than five million Black Americans who are over the age of 20 have diabetes. Unfortunately, not all of these cases have been diagnosed. Without this diagnosis, you may likely start to experience diabetic complications before you know what the problem is. One of these potential complications is hearing loss and, as with many health issues, you can’t afford to ignore it.  How Diabetes Affects Your Hearing Some doctors don’t believe that there’s a link between diabetes and hearing loss while others do. However, there is evidence that people with diabetes are at least twice as likely to develop hearing loss as people who don’t have the condition. This risk is relatively the same regardless of the type of diabetes. One possible cause of this hearing loss is nerve damage.  Nerve damage is one of the known effects of diabetes – especially if it isn’t being managed properly. While the damage can affect different parts of the body like your eyes, hands, feet, and kidneys, it can also affect your ears. In this case, high blood sugar can damage the small blood vessels and the inner ear. On the flip side, low blood...