According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 70 million adults in the United States have high blood pressure, or hypertension.
That amounts to nearly one in three adults; furthermore, another one in three adults are living with elevated blood pressure results that are below the level considered to be high blood pressure but above the norm. This is called prehypertension, and roughly only half of Americans with high blood pressure have their condition under control. This leads to a multitude of health problems and risks, many of which are well-known. However, most people are not aware of another effect of high blood pressure that has been discovered: hearing loss.
You've High Blood Pressure can effect your hearing...
There is a high correlation between high blood pressure and the incidence of a first stroke. The CDC reports that approximately eight out of 10 people having a first stroke also have high blood pressure. In 2008, The American Heart Association published a recap of a large group study on the association between sudden sensorineural hearing loss and stroke. Researchers found that the there is a definitive and clear correlation between the two. While the exact specifics tying the two together are still being studied, the warning flags are already present. The group within the study who had severe hearing loss were more than 150 percent more likely to experience a stroke within two years of the occurrence of a sudden hearing loss. Any potential disturbance in the blood flow to the tiny capillaries in the inner ear can cause permanent and devastating hearing loss, and it is theorized that the presence of high blood pressure impacts the blood flow to the delicate structures in the inner ear.