Hearing loss tracks mortality - and hearing aids track lower risk
21st October 2026
In an individual participant data meta-analysis of 13,851 people in Australia, Iceland and the US, with replication in 50,277 adults in Norway, hearing loss measured by audiometry was associated with higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, rising with severity - mild 1.19, moderate 1.55, and moderately severe or worse 1.56 for all-cause risk. Current hearing aid use was associated with lower risk - 0.91 for all-cause and 0.85 for cardiovascular mortality.
Key takeaways:
- The signal is graded: worse measured hearing tracked higher mortality in both the main analysis and the Norwegian replication, after adjustment for key confounders
- Hearing is part of intrinsic capacity (entry 55): one of the senses that sums what a person can do, and one of the cheapest capacities to test objectively
- The hearing aid finding is observational: aid users may take better care of their health in other ways, and the study cannot separate that from a direct effect through hearing, cognition or social connection
Hype check: Proven - an association between measured hearing loss severity and mortality across 64,128 adults in four countries, replicated across cohorts. Promising - hearing aid use as a marker of lower risk. Marketing - any claim that hearing aids extend life; no randomised trial of aid use on mortality was run.