The Role of Socio-economic and Lifestyle Factors in Hearing Function in Middle-Aged Adults.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the associations between socioeconomic and lifestyle factors and measures of hearing ability to better understand potential risk factors for hearing loss. Insights from this research could help audiologists identify high-risk demographics, and ultimately contribute to addressing inequalities in hearing health.Design: An online study design was used, where data were collected on participant demographics, lifestyle and socioeconomic status, including age, gender, ethnicity, region of residence, income, education, occupation, exercise frequency, height and weight, smoking status, and weekly alcohol consumption, which were used as model predictors. Participants also self-reported their hearing function using the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale 12 (SSQ-12) and completed an online digits-in-noise (DiN) task to assess speech perception ability, which were used as outcome variables. A sample of 274 adults aged 45-65 (Mean age = 53.84, SD = 5.91) were recruited through Prolific (www.prolific.com) based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) income groups. Results: Two multiple regression models were conducted with the outcome variables of speech perception ability (Digits-in-Noise: DiN) and self-reported hearing function (Speech and Spatial Qualities of Hearing Scale: SSQ-12). The analysis revealed no significant predictors for speech perception ability or self-reported hearing function.Conclusions: The findings suggest that socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, as measured in this study, may not be significantly associated with speech perception ability or self-reported hearing function in mid-life. These results contrast with previous research that identified such factors as predictors of hearing acuity when measured using pure tone audiometry. It is possible that the DiN task, used to assess speech perception, lacked sensitivity to detect variations in hearing ability in this middle-aged sample, especially when administered online. Alternatively, previous studies may have overestimated these effects, especially as they predominantly focused on hearing acuity rather than speech perception in noise. In this diverse sample, mid-life hearing appeared to be robust, with no significant impact from socioeconomic status or lifestyle factors, highlighting the need for further research to explore other potential predictors of hearing health in mid-life.