Sara Misurelli, Ph.D., Au.D., CCC-A
Hearing loss research within communities of color
Hearing loss (HL) impacts more than 40 million individuals in the United States and is the third most prevalent chronic health condition; however, there is very limited research on HL in individuals from communities of color. The work presented here is two-fold: (1) To better understand the prevalence of HL among communities of color; and (2) to explore attitudes about HL within these populations. Ultimately, this work is intended to offer insight into how to improve hearing healthcare within communities of color.
The first part of our work focused on completing two scoping reviews to understand the prevalence of documented HL in communities of color in (1) adults and (2) children. For each scoping review, a literature search was completed. Studies were included if they met the following criteria: HL as an outcome; focused on at least one target group; conducted in the United States; written in English; and were a primary study. Studies were categorized as either adult (participants ≥ 18 yrs) or pediatric (participants <18 yrs). Results yielded 22 adult and 39 pediatric studies fitting this inclusion criteria. Specific themes were identified in the work, e.g., prevalence of HL, access to hearing healthcare, risk factors, and attitudes about HL. Together, these scoping reviews highlighted the limited research published on HL within communities of color and underscore the need for additional research in this area.
This work has led us to several additional investigations, including furthering our understanding of attitudes and beliefs towards HL in communities of color. In one qualitative study we interviewed adults with HL and their caregivers. Results revealed numerous barriers to the acceptance of HL and access to quality hearing healthcare, such as stigmatization of HL, high cost of healthcare, and language mismatch between the patient and provider. This work highlighted the need to improve access to quality comprehensive audiologic diagnostics and treatment options, within the Latinx community in particular.
Our work to better understand barriers to hearing healthcare, and further investigate and identify approaches to remove these barriers, is only in its infancy. Our future work will build upon these ideas and concepts and work to improve awareness and understanding of HL, including treatment options, in communities of color, and to support audiologists to better serve these communities.