Cultural Differences in Listening Environments Between Hispanic and White Non-Hispanic Cochlear Implant Users

OBJECTIVES: Prior research has shown that, among normal hearing college students, Hispanic-identifying participants experience higher levels of environmental noise and lower signal to noise ratios as compared with White non-Hispanic participants....

Audiologists fitting and programming cochlear implants for Hispanic patients should consider that real-world listening environments may be systematically noisier, potentially warranting noise-management program adjustments or targeted aural rehabilitation strategies.

Demonstrating cultural disparities in listening environments highlights the need for culturally responsive cochlear implant programming and rehabilitation, and challenges the assumption that outcomes benchmarks are equally applicable across ethnic groups.

1. 01Hispanic cochlear implant users self-reported higher background noise levels than White non-Hispanic users.
2. 02Hispanic users also reported lower signal-to-noise ratios (more noise relative to speech) in daily life.
3. 03Study published in Ear & Hearing; data appear to be self-reported/survey-based.
4. 04Findings suggest cultural listening contexts differ meaningfully and could affect device performance benchmarks.
5. 05Has implications for equitable CI programming and culturally tailored aural rehabilitation.

PMID

42383895

DOI

10.1097/AUD.0000000000001865.

Journal

Ear and Hearing

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Hispanic and White non-Hispanic adult cochlear implant users

Intervention

Comparison of self-reported listening environments by cultural/ethnic group

Comparator

White non-Hispanic cochlear implant users