Socioeconomic status as a factor in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children with hearing loss: analysis of national survey data

In this paper, the association between socioeconomic status and speech, language and communication outcomes for primary-school-going children with hearing loss using population survey data was analysed. The dataset used for analysis consisted of 289973 children in total, of which 3174 children had hearing loss. For all children, higher socioeconomic status was positively correlated with better speech, language and communication outcomes. A hearing loss was indicated for 1% of non-Indigenous children and 4.3% of Indigenous children. Non-Indigenous children with hearing loss were found to be fairly evenly distributed by socioeconomic status, whereas Indigenous children with hearing loss were found to be statistically significantly more likely to be living in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic areas. Socioeconomic status was found to affect developmental outcomes for all children, regardless of Indigenous and hearing loss status.