The relationship between diabetes and sensorineural hearing loss has b
een disputed. This study compares 44 insulin-dependent diabetics with
38 age and sex matched controls. All had pure tone and speech audiomet
ry performed, with any diabetic showing sensorineural deafness undergo
ing stapedial reflex decay tests. In 14 diabetics stapedial reflex tes
ts showed no tone decay in any patient, but seven showed evidence of r
ecruitment. Analysis of variance showed the diabetics to be significan
tly deafer than the control population. The hearing loss affected high
frequencies in both sexes, but also low frequencies in the male. Spee
ch discrimination scores showed no difference. Further analysis by sex
showed the males to account for most of the differences. Analysis of
the audiograms showed mostly a high tone loss. Finally duration of dia
betes, insulin dosage and family history of diabetes were not found to
have a significant effect on threshold.