Linking hearing impairment, employment and education

Objective: To analyse the impact that hearing impairment and other relevant variables have on the education and employment situation of those affected by it in the Principality of Asturias, Spain.

Methods: To achieve this objective, two discrete choice models (probit) are presented. The first one associates, among other variables, hearing impairment with the individual's employment status and in the second model, an ordered multinomial probit model is used to analyse, among other variables, how the impairment affects the individual's level of studies.

Results: Although the levels of statistical significance are low, the model's estimates appear to indicate that hearing impairment in Spain increases the probability of being unemployed by 18.4% (P = 0.09). Additionally, the people suffering from such a disability are, compared with the rest of the population, 10.2% (P = 0.05) more likely to have only completed elementary studies without pursuing any further education.

Conclusions: If an individual is able to reach a level of secondary or higher education thus enabling a future incorporation to the work place, a benefit is obviously generated for both the individual as well as society (which has additionally incurred an investment in human capital). In this regard, encouraging the education of hearing-impaired students would profit both the individual (who receives an early integration as a child), which may contribute positively to family and social factors, as well as society who have incurred the investment. Therefore, our result could indicate that programmes created to support individuals with this type of disability represent an increase of welfare both individually and socially.