BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Aging
Sec. Healthy Longevity
Age-related hearing loss in healthy older adults is associated with arterial stiffening and higher aortic systolic blood pressure: potential role of inflammation
Provisionally accepted
Nicholas Anthony Carlini1
Lynn M. Bielski1
Courtney N. Mudd1Taylor C. Harman-Hornbeck1Matthew P. Harber1,2
Bradley S. Fleenor1,3*- 1Ball State University, Muncie, United States
- 2Taylor University, Upland, United States
- 3Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, United States
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Age-related aortic stiffening increases aortic (central) blood pressure and flow pulsatility resulting in microvascular dysfunction and target organ damage. The relation between aortic stiffness, aortic blood pressure and age-related hearing loss has not been fully determined. We hypothesize aortic stiffness and aortic blood pressure will be associated with hearing loss and attenuated by inflammatory biomarkers (matrix metalloproteinase-2 [MMP-2], resistin, vaspin). Twenty-two younger (n=11, 4M/7F, age 25.5 ± 2.1 yrs) and older (n=11, 4M/7F, age 65.8 ± 0.9 yrs) adults completed resting measures of aortic stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, cfPWV), pulse wave analysis and hearing sensitivity. Compared to young, older adults had higher cfPWV, aortic systolic blood pressure (aSBP), speech recognition thresholds (SRT) and pure tone averages (PTA) in the low (LFPTA) and high frequency (HFPTA) domains (all, p<0.05). cfPWV was correlated with right ear (RE) LFPTA (r=0.45, p=0.04) and HFPTA (r=0.53, p=0.01) and left ear (LE) HFPTA (r=0.52, p=0.02). aSBP was correlated with RE SRT (r=0.47, p=0.03), LE SRT (r=0.44, p=0.04), RE LFPTA (r=0.41, p=0.05) and RE (r=0.53, p=0.01) and LE HFPTA (r=0.46, p=0.0346). The relation between cfPWV and aSBP and select PTA did not remain after adjusting for MMP-2 and resistin (p>0.05). These data provide novel insight demonstrating aortic stiffness and aSBP are related to reduced hearing sensitivity, which may, in part, be mediated by inflammation.
Keywords: Aging, Presbycusis, vascular hemodynamics, Aortic stiffness, Blood Pressure
Received: 06 Jun 2025; Accepted: 05 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Carlini, Bielski, Mudd, Harman-Hornbeck, Harber and Fleenor. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bradley S. Fleenor
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