Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and chances are you may be thinking about relationships. Though did you know there is an important partnership within the body that helps keep your heart and hearing happy?
February is American Heart Month, and you’re probably familiar with the importance of cardiovascular health. According to the CDC, almost 610,000 people in the U.S. annually die from heart disease.1
What you might not be aware of is the link between the cardiac and auditory systems. Good blood flow helps you maintain your hearing, and damage to the blood vessels in your ears can result in hearing loss. One study of older adults in the U.S. found that those who had experienced heart failure were 11% more likely to have hearing loss.2
What’s the Reason for This Correlation?
The hair cells in the cochlea translate noises into electrical impulses that the brain interprets as sound and relies on proper blood flow to do so. Poor circulation deprives these cells of oxygen, which causes them to become damaged or destroyed. These cells do not grow back, so inadequate blood flow can result in permanent hearing loss. It can also lead to tinnitus, a.k.a. ‘ringing in the ears.’
Hearing loss doesn’t just affect your health—it can also impact your relationships with the people around you and make it difficult to hear well wishes from your valentine. One way you can protect your hearing is by taking steps to keep your heart healthy, such as cardiovascular exercise and a healthy diet.
If you already know you have some form of cardiovascular disease, it’s time to have a real heart-to-heart with an audiologist about getting a hearing evaluation.
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, October 14). Heart disease facts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
2 Sterling, M. R., Lin, F. R., Jannat-Khah, D. P., Goman, A. M., Echeverria, S. E., & Safford, M. M. (2018, March 1). Hearing loss among older adults with heart failure in the United States: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. JAMA otolaryngology– head & neck surgery. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5854543/
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