Key Healthcare Resources for People with Hearing Loss

Key resources for people with hearing loss in healthcare settings.

HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America)

• • Toolkit (patients and providers), Guide for Effective Communication in Health Care (34 pages, pdf)
  • Program, Communication Access in Health Care (webpage)
  • Webinar (Sept 17, 2025) Hospital Safety and Hearing Loss: A Hospital Panel Discussion (1 hr 28 min)  Handout
  • Articles
    • McCaffrey, E. and C. McCaffrey (Spring 2025). My Journey from Caregiver to Patient to Advocate Hearing Life Magazine (2 pages, pdf) 
    • Morris, M. et. al. (Fall 2022). Why is it So Hard to Get the Health Care Accommodations that I Need? Hearing Life Magazine (2 pages, pdf) 
    • Megan M. (Summer 2021). Equitable Health Care: Setting the Record Straight (2 pages, pdf) 
    • Webb, A. (Spring 2022). Effective Communication in Medical Settings: Your Rights Under the Law. Hearing Life Magazine (2 pages, pdf) 
    • Quarterly articles, patient stories (webpage, each article is 2 pages) 

Articles

• Atcherson, S. R., Finley, E. T., & Hahne, J. (2025). Comparison of Prototype Transparent Mask, Opaque Mask, and No Mask on Speech Understanding in Noise. Audiology Research, 15(4), 103. 
• Jawadi, Z., McInturff, S., & Chern, A. (May 28, 2024). Achieving telehealth equity for people with hearing loss. STAT.
• Lacey, C., Michaux, C., Zambetti, A., & Wargo, M. (Dec 12, 2025). An Audiology Program to Proactively Manage Inpatient Veterans With Hearing Loss. American Journal of Audiology
• Mestayer, K. (Dec 19, 2019) Have a Hearing Loss, in the Hospital? Hearing Health Foundation (webpage)
• Thomas, Andrew (Feb 21, 2025) Inclusive environments for patients with hearing loss. IHLMA

Short Videos

• Runnion, E. et. al. (2025). Effective Communication For Hospital Patients With Hearing Loss (5:25 minutes) by Students of Dr. Elizabeth Runnion at Nazareth University & HLAA Rochester NY Chapter Healthcare Taskforce
• Pocker, R. (2024). Enhancing Healthcare: A Guide for Interacting with Individuals with Hearing Loss, individual contributor, (4 minutes)

Other Resources

• Comorbidities correlations article. Beck, D. et al. (Feb 18, 2025) Untreated Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids, and Cognition: Correlational Outcomes 2025, HearingTracker.
• Medicare (November 2023). Improving Access to Care for People with Disabilities with a handout Improving Communication Access for Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (20 pages, pdf)
• ADA Business Brief (August 11, 2005). Communicating with People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Hospital Settings (webpage)
• Facility Guidelines. Optimizing acoustic environments at healthcare facilities, Quiet Communities (webpage)

Last updated January 31, 2026