Alduais Ahmed, Alfadda Hind, Alarifi Hessah Saad
Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, King Saud University, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Aug 11;13(16):1964. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13161964.
Hearing impairment is a significant public health issue globally, yet national data for Saudi Arabia remain sparse.
Using data from the 2017 Disability Survey, we analysed 12 hearing-related indicators across 13 administrative regions. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression, cluster analysis, and residual mapping were applied to identify socio-demographic disparities and service gaps.
Among 20,408,362 Saudi nationals, about 1,445,723 (7.1%) reported at least one functional difficulty. Of these, 289,355 individuals (1.4%) had hearing impairment, either alone or with other difficulties-229,541 (1.1%) had hearing impairment combined with other disabilities, while 59,814 (0.3%) had only hearing impairment. Females and males were equally affected. Notably, educational attainment and marital status significantly influenced device uptake; less-educated and divorced individuals were particularly underserved. Regionally, southern provinces (Al-Baha, Jazan, and Najran) demonstrated the highest unmet need due to geographic barriers, limited audiological resources, and socioeconomic constraints, reflecting compounded risks from consanguinity and rural isolation. Cluster analyses identified provinces requiring urgent attention, recommending mobile audiology units, tele-audiology services, and means-tested vouchers to enhance coverage.
Despite Saudi Arabia's existing public audiology services and a National Newborn Hearing Screening programme achieving 96% coverage, substantial gaps remain in follow-up care and specialist distribution, underscoring the necessity for systematic workforce tracking and enhanced rural incentives. International evidence from India and Brazil underscores the feasibility and cost-effectiveness (approximately USD 5200/QALY) of these recommended interventions. Implementing targeted provincial strategies, integrating audiological screening into routine healthcare visits, and aligning resource allocation with the WHO and Vision 2030 benchmarks will significantly mitigate hearing impairment's health, social, and economic impacts, enhancing the quality of life and societal inclusion for affected individuals.
听力障碍是全球一个重大的公共卫生问题，但沙特阿拉伯的全国性数据仍然匮乏。
利用2017年残疾调查的数据，我们分析了13个行政区的12项与听力相关的指标。应用描述性统计、逻辑回归、聚类分析和残差映射来识别社会人口差异和服务差距。
在20408362名沙特国民中，约1445723人（7.1%）报告至少有一项功能困难。其中，289355人（1.4%）患有听力障碍，单独或伴有其他困难——229541人（1.1%）患有听力障碍并伴有其他残疾，而59814人（0.3%）仅患有听力障碍。女性和男性受影响程度相同。值得注意的是，教育程度和婚姻状况对设备使用有显著影响；受教育程度较低和离婚的人获得的服务尤其不足。在地区方面，南部省份（巴哈、吉赞和奈季兰）由于地理障碍、听力资源有限和社会经济限制，未满足需求最高，这反映了近亲结婚和农村孤立带来的复合风险。聚类分析确定了需要紧急关注的省份，建议设立流动听力单元、远程听力服务和经济状况调查代金券以扩大覆盖范围。
尽管沙特阿拉伯现有的公共听力服务以及国家新生儿听力筛查计划的覆盖率达到了96%，但后续护理和专科医生分布方面仍存在巨大差距，这凸显了系统跟踪劳动力和加强农村激励措施的必要性。来自印度和巴西的国际证据强调了这些推荐干预措施的可行性和成本效益（约5200美元/质量调整生命年）。实施有针对性的省级战略，将听力筛查纳入常规医疗就诊，并使资源分配与世界卫生组织和《2030年愿景》的基准保持一致，将显著减轻听力障碍对健康、社会和经济的影响，提高受影响个人的生活质量和社会融入度。
