A study has found that the gap in income levels between people with hearing loss and people with normal hearing widens over time.
The increase in income over time is relatively lower among people with hearing loss than among people with normal hearing, a Korean study has found. In this way, the gap in income levels is widened over time between people with hearing problems and the normal-hearing population.
Increased income levels over time
Both the hearing loss group and the comparison group showed increased income levels over time. In the hearing loss group, the income levels after 4 and 5 years were higher than the initial income level. But in the comparison group with no hearing loss, the income levels of all the participants after 1–5 years were higher than the initial income level.
About the study
In the study, the changes in income levels of participants both with and without hearing loss were followed annually.
The study participants were selected from the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort data from 2002–2015 of Koreans 40 years and older. In all, 5,857 persons with hearing loss were matched with 23,428 persons with normal hearing. The difference in the initial income level and the income level after 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years were compared between the two groups.
Sources: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and the journal Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology
