Hearing Aid Stigma

The incidence of dual sensory loss, or hearing and vision loss combined, is on the rise and will continue to do so as baby boomers reach retirement age. In dual sensory loss, the degree of vision and hearing loss is reported to be significant enough to result in communication problems that go beyond difficulties experienced for either sensory loss alone (Saunders & Echt, 2007) There is a lack of research to show whether or not the stigma associated with the hearing aid effect is influenced by the need for dual sensory aids. The goal of this project is to investigate the attitudes of  towards individuals depicted wearing hearing aids alone, vision aids alone or the two in combination.