Publication date: Jul 21, 2025
Telehealth has emerged as a vital medium for healthcare delivery and has been integrated increasingly in clinic and hospital settings in the post-COVID-19 era. However, accessibility of telehealth for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) remains underexplored. As effective communication is critical to high-quality healthcare, a deeper understanding of how DHH individuals interact with telehealth and identifying specific barriers they face can inform targeted interventions to improve care. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 6), a nationally representative dataset. Respondents were stratified by self-identified DHH status. Demographic, internet access, health behavior, and telehealth perception variables were compared between DHH and normal hearing individuals. Statistical analyses were performed using chi-square tests and t-tests. Among 5694 respondents, 521 identified as DHH. Chi-square testing found that DHH patients reported poorer general health (p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Adults | Access to care |
| Healthcare | Digital health |
| Hints6 | Health disparities |
| Otolaryngol | Hearing loss |
| Underexplored | Patient experience |
| Telehealth |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | IDO | quality |
| disease | MESH | general health |
| disease | MESH | Access to care |
| disease | MESH | Health disparities |
| disease | MESH | Hearing loss |