(0928) Epidemiology and Sociodemographics of Hearing Loss Referrals in Central New York

Introduction: Nearly 40 million adults in the United States suffer from some form of decreased hearing, making it one of the most prevalent disabilities in the US. Disparities have been identified across sociodemographic groups with respect to hearing loss prevalence, hearing aid use, and cochlear implantation. The purpose of this study is to examine the demographics of patients referred for hearing loss at a regional tertiary academic center in Central New York.

Methods: The electronic medical record at SUNY Upstate Medical University (Syracuse, NY) was used to identify all patients seen in initial consultation for hearing loss by an otolaryngologist in our tertiary academic group between January 1 and December 31, 2023. In total, 610 patients were included. Sociodemographic data–age, gender, ZIP code, race, and insurance provider–as well as clinical data–hearing loss severity, pure tone average, word recognition score, and treatment recommendations–were collected. ZIP codes were linked to US Census data to obtain quintiles of median household income. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize epidemiologic and sociodemographic variables of interest.

Results: A total of 610 patients were referred for hearing loss with a mean age of 60 years (SD: 16.5). Of them, 47.9% were male. The vast majority of patients (n = 533, 87.4%) were White. A majority of patients had Medicare insurance plans (n = 342, 56%); a minority were uninsured or with Medicaid insurance (1% and 0.8%). The highest percentage of patients were in the 4th-highest quintile of median household income (n = 169, 27.7%), followed by the 3rd quintile (n = 130, 21.3%). Nearly half (300) of patients (49%) had severe or profound hearing loss; 386 (63%) had not been recommended any prior treatment for their hearing loss.

Conclusions: Consistent with previous literature, analysis of hearing loss referrals at a tertiary academic center in Central New York demonstrates a majority of patients to be in advantaged groups. Furthermore, these data demonstrate a need for earlier hearing loss referrals to facilitate intervention before the onset of disabling hearing loss.