Discrimination towards individuals with hearing loss: Findings from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin

Background: Despite legal and social deterrents, disability-based discrimination remains prevalent. Whether adults with hearing loss experience more discrimination is understudied. Objective: To examine whether individuals with hearing loss, compared to those without, faced more day-to-day and lifetime experiences of discrimination. Methods: This cross-sectional study included participants (n = 2954) from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (2008-2013). The determinant of interest was self-reported hearing loss. Outcomes were five self-reported experiences of discrimination capturing day-to-day (treated as less smart or with less respect) and lifetime (treated unfairly at school, in getting a job, or at work) discrimination. We used age-sex-adjusted and fully-adjusted (age, sex, race and ethnicity, educational attainment) multivariable generalized linear models with a binomial distribution and log-link function to test associations between hearing loss and discrimination. Results are presented as prevalence ratios (PR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Among the participants, 30.5% (n = 900) self-reported hearing loss. In age-sex-adjusted and fully-adjusted models, hearing loss was associated with higher prevalence of four experiences of discrimination, being treated (1) as though they were not smart (PR 1.33; 95% CI 1.15, 1.53), (2) with less respect or courtesy (PR 1.31; 95% CI 1.14, 1.50), (3) unfairly at school/training (PR 1.30; 95% CI 1.11, 1.52), and (4) unfairly at work (PR 1.16; 95% CI 1.06, 1.28). Hearing loss was not associated with being treated unfairly in getting a job (PR 1.10; 95% CI 0.95, 1.27). Conclusion: Overall, findings suggest individuals with hearing loss experience higher levels of discrimination, underscoring the need for interventions to reduce these discriminatory behaviors.