Disparities in health literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic between the hearing and deaf communities.
DHH adults get more COVID-19 misinformation—give them signed, visual, bite-sized health content.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team gave an online COVID-19 quiz to 86 deaf or hard-of-hearing adults and 92 hearing adults in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
They also asked where people got their virus facts: TV, health sites, friends, or social media.
What they found
DHH adults scored 20 % lower on the quiz.
They named TikTok and WhatsApp as top sources twice as often as hearing adults.
Only one in four DHH adults used official health sites, compared with half of hearing adults.
How this fits with other research
Cheng et al. (2016) saw the same survey split: DHH university students scored lower than hearing peers on thinking-style tests.
The pattern repeats—when surveys compare DHH and hearing adults, DHH groups often trail, but the gap changes with topic and support.
Domínguez et al. (2014) show why: deaf adults read by hunting key words and skipping little function words.
So dense medical pages feel harder, pushing them toward quick videos or memes that use clear images and captions.
Why it matters
Your DHH clients may enter session with shaky virus facts and heavy social-media noise.
Swap long handouts for short captioned clips, sign-language reels, or picture strips.
Start each health chat by asking, “Where did you hear that?” so you can replace myth with fact in the same visual style they trust.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Barriers to communication for those with hearing loss are not only associated with social, emotional, educational and occupational difficulties, but also with reduced access to essential healthcare services, health information, and poorer health outcomes (Emond et al., 2015). These concerns are amplified with mandates such as physical distancing and the use of masks, which although needed to prevent respiratory transmission of SARS-Cov-2, obscure access to facial features needed for lipreading and sign language. OBJECTIVES: To compare the disparities of health knowledge and practice surrounding COVID-19, if any, among hearing and Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) individuals. METHODS: A total of 110 (70 hearing and 40 DHH) participants were recruited in the unique linguistic context of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia utilising a cross-sectional electronic survey. Participants were differentiated according to status of hearing loss, communication mode, as well as country, age, sex, occupation, education level and satisfaction with available information. Various aspects of knowledge relating to COVID-19 and associated public health measures were tested by means of a questionnaire. RESULTS: A multivariate regression analysis showed that both the degree of hearing loss, and use of sign language as the primary means of communication were associated with lower scores. In addition, disparities exist in the use of health information sources, where DHH participants relied mostly on social media compared to the hearing group who relied predominantly on official government sources. CONCLUSIONS: In light of the pandemic, bridging the gap in health literacy for DHH individuals is essential in both policy and practice, in order to ensure equal access to healthcare and universal compliance with health directives at the population level.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1007/s11606-008-0895-3