Overview

• The study, published on May 2, 2025, in Health Data Science, followed 490,865 UK Biobank participants over a median of 12.3 years.
• Loneliness was found to independently increase the risk of hearing loss by 24%, even after adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, clinical, and genetic factors.
• Sensorineural hearing loss, which affects the inner ear or auditory nerves, showed the strongest association with loneliness.
• Women experiencing loneliness faced a 30% increased risk of hearing loss, compared to an 18% increase in men, suggesting potential sex-specific vulnerabilities.
• Researchers propose biological mechanisms such as chronic inflammation, stress responses, and microvascular damage, and are planning intervention trials to explore whether reducing loneliness can mitigate hearing loss risk.