Social Predictors of Hearing Aid Purchase: Do Stigma, Social Network Composition, Social Support, and Loneliness Matter?

The study is correlational, so no predictor can be called a cause of purchase. 643 of 1396 eligible participants were excluded for missing data, leaving only 753 analysed; excluded participants were slightly older and less likely to be male, though differences were small. Social network items asked only for counts of people with certain characteristics, not relationship strength, which may have underestimated contagion effects. The sample consisted of people already willing to visit a hearing clinic, so stigma may be more powerful in those who never seek care. Most participants reported low levels of loneliness, which may have limited the ability to detect an effect.

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Do not treat the hearing aid stigma finding as settled. The odds ratio pointed in the expected direction but the 95% confidence interval crossed 1.0, meaning the data do not rule out no effect. The social network finding is stronger but still observational: knowing someone with hearing loss may reflect greater health awareness rather than causing purchase.