Associations of Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Use with Incident Parkinson Disease

Declines in sensory functions, such as vision impairment and hyposmia, often precede Parkinson disease (PD) and serve as markers of neurodegeneration, while hearing loss remains understudied in this context. Population-based case–control studies suggest a modestly increased risk for PD associated with hearing loss. In this study, researchers examined the association of hearing loss, measured by audiometry, with subsequent incident PD diagnosis among 3,596,365 U.S. veterans.

Among the veterans, 20.8% had normal hearing, while 30.0%, 28.9%, 15.8%, and 4.3% experienced mild (20–<35 dB pure tone average threshold), moderate (35–<50 dB), moderate to severe (50–<65 dB), and severe to profound (65–120 dB) hearing loss, respectively. After accountin…