Association of hearing loss with decreased employment and income among adults in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the association of hearing loss with employment and income in adults.


METHODS
Patients with a coded diagnosis of hearing loss were identified from the 2006 and 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey linked household and medical conditions files and compared to patients without hearing loss. Differences in employment, wage income, and Supplemental Security Income were evaluated with multivariate regression models after adjustment for several demographic and Charlson comorbidity variables.


RESULTS
An estimated 933,921 +/- 88,474 adults were identified with hearing loss (54.7% of whom were male; mean age for all, 51.0 years). Patients with hearing loss were more likely to be unemployed or partly unemployed than those without hearing loss (adjusted odds ratio, 2.2; p < 0.001). Similarly, adults with hearing loss were less likely to have any wage income than those without hearing loss (adjusted odds ratio, 2.5; p < 0.001). The population with hearing loss earned a mean wage of $23,481 +/- $3,366, versus $31,272 +/- $517 for the population without hearing loss (difference in wages, $7,791; p < 0.001). The association between hearing loss and receiving Supplemental Security Income was not significant (p = 0.109).


CONCLUSIONS
Adults with hearing loss are more likely to be unemployed and on average earn significantly less wage income than adults without hearing loss. Further work is needed to determine the potential impact of treatment on these differences.
Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School (both authors), the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary/ Harvard Otolaryngology Training Program, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
David
D
Jung
Neil
N
Bhattacharyya
D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States