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VIDEO: Diabetes educators on the frontline to screen for hearing loss
SAN DIEGO — In this video exclusive, Endocrine Today Diabetes in Real Life columnist Susan Weiner, MS, RDN, CDE, CDN, talks with diabetes educator and AADE board member Joanne Rinker, MS, RD, CDE, LDN, about recognizing and addressing diabetes-related hearing loss. More than half of all people with diabetes have at least some mild hearing loss, according to Rinker.
Rinker recommends using the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening Version in the office to screen people with diabetes (search “HHIE-S” online for a PDF). The tool is a questionnaire that the patient or caregiver can fill out to determine need for referral to an audiologist.
“When these people with diabetes are then treated for hearing loss they can improve their blood sugar, they can improve their ability to communicate, which makes them more social, which also will bring a quality of life improvement,” Rinker said.