Moderate effects of hearing loss on mental health and subjective well-being: Results from the Nord-Trondelag hearing loss study

Objective: To estimate effects of hearing loss on symptoms of anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and subjective well-being. Methods: A normal population sample of 50,398 subjects, age 20 to 101 years, in Nord-Trondelag completed audiometric tests and questionnaires. The association between hearing loss and mental health was assessed with multiple linear regression analyses, controlling for social background variables. Results: Effects of hearing loss were mostly significant, but moderate in strength. Effects were stronger among young (20-44 years) and middle-aged (45-64 years) than among older (65+ years) people. Loss of high or middle frequency hearing had almost no impact on mental health measures if low frequency hearing was not also impaired. The strongest observed effect was a change of 0.1 SD in mental health per 10 dB hearing loss. Conclusions: Hearing loss is associated with substantially reduced mental health ratings among some young and middle-aged persons, but usually does not affect mental health much among older persons.