What is it about?
Adults who live in rural communities often lack professional support for their hearing loss. To help understand the needs of these adults, we conducted individual and group discussions to learn what is important to them. We also spoke with their family and friends and other community partners.
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Why is it important?
We found that adults who live in rural areas want more services for their hearing losses where they live. This information is important because it provides the basis for developing new models of care for adults in rural communities. By addressing hearing loss, adults can potentially avoid the negative implications of hearing loss such as social withdrawal, loneliness, depression and cognitive decline.
Perspectives
We found it fascinating listening to the comments from adults with hearing loss, their friend and family, and other community partners. One comment that was particularly insightful came from a community partner who said that, "...opportunity can be created so that we can prevent more people from losing themselves due to medical challenges, because when they lose themselves due to a medical challenge, then we lose them as a community, because they're not coming out and extending themselves because of that challenge, right? So, they're not volunteering, they're not offering their gifts and their talents…"
Marcia Hay-McCutcheon
The University of Alabama
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: An Assessment of Hearing Health Care Needs in Rural West Central and South Alabama, American Journal of Audiology, May 2023, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2023_aja-22-00177.
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