Cross-sectional study of subjective and objective hearing loss among US adult cancer survivors

Cancer survivors may be at higher risk of developing hearing loss (HL) due to older age, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. However, the prevalence of HL among US cancer survivors is unknown. In a cross-sectional study including 9337 participants (10.3% cancer survivors), the survivors had higher prevalence of troublesome hearing (aOR 1.43; 95% CI 1.11-1.84), tinnitus (1.28; 0.94-1.74), speech-frequency HL (1.43; 1.11-1.85), and high-frequency HL (1.74; 1.29-2.34). Two simple questions could identify speech-frequency HL and high-frequency HL with area under the curve of 0.88 and 0.90, respectively. The authors conclude that, among cancer survivors, the use of subjective HL questions may be useful for identifying individuals with true HL and guiding early referral and intervention.