Hormone replacement therapy may increase risk of hearing loss

Hearing loss is inability to hear sounds of 25 decibels or under in speech. This often leads to difficulties understanding conversations and hearing certain sounds.

Women seem to be at a significantly lower risk of hearing loss than men. Between the ages of 20 and 69, men are twice as likely as women to develop speech-frequency hearing loss.

While it is not known why women tend to be protected from hearing loss, some studies have suggested that estrogen
suggested that the female hormone may protect the inner ear.

Women that are affected by hearing loss experience it after menopause when During levels of progesterone and
estrogen start to reduce.

Prolonged use of hormone therapy HT at menopause raise hearing loss risk
The study analyzed existing data on almost 81,000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study II, making this research the first large-scale study to examine the use of HT in relation to hearing loss among menopausal and postmenopausal women.

The women were between 27 and 44 years at the beginning of the study, and they were clinically followed for 22 years between 1991 and 2013. During this time, the women reported how they used HT and lost hearing.

Almost 23 percent of the participants reported some degree of hearing loss during the follow-up period. HT taken by the participants consisted of either estrogen therapy or estrogen plus progestogen.

This shows that HT in postmenopausal women, as well as prolonged use of oral HT, correlated with a higher risk of hearing loss. HT increases the risk of hearing loss.