Identifying Diabetic Parameters in Cochlear Mechanics and Models

Hearing impairment is one of the most prevalent chronic disability identified with the elderly people over the age of 65. The peripheral portion of the cochlea and auditory nerve are known to deteriorate with age. The prevalence of hearing loss in diabetes has been shown in many studies to be moderately high, progressive and bilateral. The predominant mechanism of hearing loss in diabetes appears to be related to microangiopathy of inner ear. Mathematical modelling of cochlear dynamics had been attempted over the years with various parameters. This paper, attempts to study the correlation between diabetes and hearing loss and try to identify key parameters in cochlear model which leads to hearing loss.