New Findings from University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in the Area of Military Medicine Reported (Health insurance status and hearing aid utilization in U.S. older adults: A population-based cross-sectional study): Military Medicine

2026 FEB 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Defense & Aerospace Daily -- Research findings on Military Medicine are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting from Los Angeles, California, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The role of health insurance and its diverse hearing health benefits on hearing aid utilization is currently unknown. The objective of this study is to examine rates of ever and regular hearing aid (HA) use by insurance status in older U.S. adults.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, “This cross-sectional study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2005-2018). Older adults ( 65 years) with complete data on health insurance, audiometry, and hearing aid use (n = 3,172) were included. Eight combinatorial insurance categories were created and compared pairwise to the reference of Medicare only coverage. Outcomes included ever and regular hearing aid use. Among older U.S. adults, 30.3% [95% CI:27.6%-33.2%] of those with audiometry-measured hearing loss reported ever using HAs while 22.9% [95% CI:20.3%-25.7%] reported regular HA use. Among older adults with hearing loss, those with military-related insurance (Tricare, VA and Champ-VA) had amongst the highest rates of ever and regular HA use (43.3% [95% CI:31.3%-56.2%] and 30.8% [95% CI:21.1%-42.5%], respectively). Ever HA use rates for individuals with Medicare and Medicaid was 30.8% [95% CI:27.8%-33.8%] and 17.7% [95% CI:11.9%-25.5%], respectively. In a multivariable model adjusting for demographics and hearing loss severity, individuals with military-related and military-related+Medicaid insurance were significantly more likely to report ever using HAs compared to those with Medicare only (OR 1.80, 95% CI:1.03-3.16; OR 20.38, 95% CI:1.07-386.84, respectively). Those with military-related insurance were more likely to report regular HA use (OR 2.17, 95% CI:1.16-4.09). In this nationally representative study of older U.S. adults, we found differences in ever and regular HA use rates by insurance status, even when adjusting for hearing loss, demographics, and comorbidities.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Future research is warranted to investigate group-specific differences, including access to hearing care, hearing health benefits, and stigma, to better understand the facilitators and barriers to hearing aid use by insurance status.”

For more information on this research see: Health insurance status and hearing aid utilization in U.S. older adults: A population-based cross-sectional study. PLOS One, 2026;21(1). PLOS One can be contacted at: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. (Public Library of Science - www.plos.org; PLOS One - www.plosone.org)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Albert Li, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States. Additional authors for this research include Kaitlin Hori, Diego E. Razura, John Parsons and Janet S. Choi.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0341570. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal PLOS One is: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA.

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