Tohoku University clarifies relationship between alcohol consumption and age-related hearing loss — High risk with "heavy drinking" in men, low risk with "moderate drinking" in women

A research group led by Professor Yukio Katori, Associate Professor Jun Suzuki, and Part-time Lecturer Hiyori Takahashi from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Professor Nobuo Fuse from the Department of Biomarker Investigation, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, and Professor Atsushi Hozawa from the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine at Tohoku University has announced that the relationship between alcohol consumption and age-related hearing loss differs between men and women. They found that heavy drinking is associated with more hearing loss in men, while light to moderate drinking is associated with less hearing loss in women. The study suggested that the effect of alcohol consumption on hearing loss may vary depending on genetic factors related to alcohol metabolism. These findings are expected to contribute to the development of preventive methods for age-related hearing loss. The results were published in the electronic edition of Scientific Reports on December 2.

Age-related hearing loss is a sensorineural hearing loss that progresses with aging, making it difficult to hear high-frequency sounds, and significantly reduces quality of life. The number of people with hearing loss was approximately 20.56 million in 2020, but it is estimated that this will increase to approximately 22.75 million by 2030, with further increases expected due to population aging.

Hearing loss is known to increase the risk of social isolation and depression and has recently been found to be associated with dementia. The importance of prevention and early intervention has become a point of emphasis.

On the other hand, the progression of age-related hearing loss involves various factors in addition to aging, such as noise exposure and lifestyle habits. There have been conflicting reports regarding alcohol consumption, with some identifying it as a risk factor and others suggesting it has a protective effect. It was thought that differences in research conditions were involved, but the details were unclear.

Therefore, in this study, the researchers examined the relationship between age-related hearing loss and alcohol consumption in 14,971 participants aged 50 to 79 years (5,376 men and 9,595 women) from the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project cohort study who underwent standard pure-tone audiometry (a test that measures the minimum sound intensity that can be detected using pure tones) between July 2021 and January 2024. Alcohol consumption was calculated as daily pure alcohol intake from self-administered questionnaires, and alcohol consumption categories were established separately for men and women, taking into account differences in alcohol consumption distribution between sexes. The analysis also considered the effects of age, smoking, and lifestyle factors.

As a result, in men, the group consuming 60 grams or more of alcohol per day showed a higher proportion of hearing loss in the high-frequency range (4000 Hz) compared with lifetime non-drinkers. In women, the group consuming approximately 10 to 20 grams per day showed a lower proportion of hearing loss in the high-frequency range (4000 Hz) compared with lifetime non-drinkers.

The study also examined single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes known to be associated with alcohol consumption, such as ALDH2, a gene involved in alcohol metabolism.

The study showed that ALDH2 polymorphisms such as rs671 and rs7946316 may result in different manifestations of the relationship with hearing loss even at the same level of alcohol consumption. For example, in men, even among those with the G/G type of rs671, which has high acetaldehyde-metabolizing capacity, the heavy drinking group consuming 80 grams or more per day showed a high proportion of participants with high-frequency hearing loss, suggesting increased risk. In contrast, while women overall showed a tendency toward less hearing loss with light to moderate drinking of 10 to 20 grams per day, certain types of the rs7946316 polymorphism showed a higher proportion of hearing loss in the diverse drinking group consuming 40 grams or more per day, suggesting higher risk.

Suzuki commented: "Although this study is a cross-sectional study and therefore does not establish causality, we believe this is an important finding showing the relationship between heavy drinking and hearing loss in men. We plan to conduct follow-up surveys in the future to examine how alcohol consumption affects long-term changes in hearing ability."

Journal Information
Publication: Scientific Reports
Title: Relationship between age-related hearing loss and alcohol consumption in a Japanese population
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-29634-7