{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T11:12:16Z","timestamp":1771931536647,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770768000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Aging"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Age-related aortic stiffening increases aortic (central) blood pressure and flow pulsatility, resulting in microvascular dysfunction and target organ damage. The relationship between aortic stiffness, aortic blood pressure, and age-related hearing loss has not been fully determined. We hypothesize that aortic stiffness and aortic blood pressure will be associated with hearing loss and attenuated by inflammatory biomarkers [matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), resistin, and vaspin]. Twenty-two younger (n = 11, 4M\/7F, age 25.5 \u00b1 2.1\u00a0years) and older (n = 11, 4M\/7F, age 65.8 \u00b1 0.9\u00a0years) adults completed resting measures of aortic stiffness (carotid\u2013femoral pulse wave velocity, cfPWV), pulse wave analysis, and hearing sensitivity. Compared to young adults, 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 &amp;lt; 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 = 0.03). The relationship between cfPWV and aSBP and select PTA did not remain after adjusting for MMP-2 and resistin (p &amp;gt; 0.05). These data provide novel insights demonstrating that aortic stiffness and aSBP are related to reduced hearing sensitivity, which may, in part, be mediated by inflammation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fragi.2026.1642659","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T07:37:15Z","timestamp":1770795435000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Age-related hearing loss in healthy older adults is associated with arterial stiffening and higher aortic systolic blood pressure: potential role of inflammation"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Nicholas A.","family":"Carlini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Exercise Physiology, Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University","place":["Muncie, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lynn M.","family":"Bielski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Ball State University","place":["Muncie, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Courtney N.","family":"Mudd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Exercise Physiology, Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University","place":["Muncie, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Taylor C.","family":"Harman-Hornbeck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Exercise Physiology, Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University","place":["Muncie, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Matthew P.","family":"Harber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Exercise Physiology, Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University","place":["Muncie, IN, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Kinesiology, Taylor University","place":["Upland, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bradley S.","family":"Fleenor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Exercise Physiology, Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University","place":["Muncie, IN, United States"]},{"name":"DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University","place":["Harrogate, TN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"508","DOI":"10.1152\/japplphysiol.00394.2022","article-title":"Coconut sugar derived from coconut inflorescence sap lowers systolic blood pressure and arterial stiffness in middle-aged and older adults: a pilot study","volume":"134","author":"Carlini","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. 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