Hearing loss is linked to a heightened risk of developing heart failure, with the psychological distress caused by the impairment taking a key role in the observed association, finds a large long term study, published online in the journal Heart. Hearing loss is increasingly common, particularly as people age, while the prevalence of heart failure is also on the rise, affecting around 64 million people worldwide, note the researchers. While impaired hearing is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, principally, it is thought, as a result of the resulting social detachment, no study has comprehensively examined the association between objectively measured hearing ability and the risk of developing heart failure. In a bid to plug this knowledge gap, the researchers mined the data of 164,431 participants from the UK Biobank, 4369 of whom wore hearing aids. None had heart failure to begin with. The average age of participants was 56, and 89,818 (around 55%) were women. (fb)

Several hundred people gathered in Warsaw on Friday to protest what they say is the Polish government’s neglect of the deaf community’s needs. The protesters are demanding official recognition of sign language as a minority language, financial support for education, employment and daily life, improved access to interpreters, and workplace accessibility for deaf employees. “Poland has been ignoring the needs of the Deaf community for years,” said deaf rights activist Agnieszka Szyc-Łuczywek on Facebook announcing the protest. “The state does not hear us, but we are there, and we will not be silenced,” she added. (fb)