A large-scale cohort study led by researchers from Tianjin University, Shenyang Medical College, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong has uncovered strong evidence that loneliness may independently increase the risk of hearing loss. The findings were published in Health Data Science on May 2, 2025.
Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent global health conditions, affecting more than 1.5 billion people. While physiological and behavioral risk factors are well-documented, the role of psychosocial factors such as loneliness has been underexplored. This study sought to determine whether loneliness is not just a consequence but also a contributing factor to hearing loss.
Using data from 490,865 participants in the UK Biobank, the researchers tracked individuals over a median period of 12.3 years. Loneliness was measured at baseline through a single-item self-report, and incident hearing loss was identified via electronic health records. Results showed that lonely individuals had a 24% higher risk of developing hearing loss compared to their non-lonely counterparts, even after adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, comorbidities, ototoxic drug use, social isolation, depression, and genetic predisposition.
"We found that loneliness is associated with an increased risk of developing hearing loss, independent of other well-known risk factors," said Yunlong Song, from the Institute of Applied Psychology at Tianjin University. "This suggests a potentially harmful feedback loop in which loneliness and hearing loss exacerbate one another."
The association was especially pronounced for sensorineural hearing loss, a form linked to cochlear or neural damage, and was stronger in women than men. Interestingly, while genetic predisposition to hearing loss also increased overall risk, it did not modify the effect of loneliness, indicating loneliness acts through distinct pathways.
The authors propose multiple mechanisms to explain this relationship, including loneliness-related inflammation, elevated blood pressure, neuroendocrine stress responses, and associated chronic diseases and unhealthy behaviors. The findings remained robust across sensitivity analyses, including models excluding early cases and incorporating self-reported hearing data.
"Our next step is to investigate the behavioral, psychological, and physiological mechanisms that might explain how loneliness contributes to hearing loss," said co-author Bin Yu. "Ultimately, we aim to conduct intervention studies to test whether alleviating loneliness can lower the risk of hearing loss."
