Codes and Frequencies
Description
This variable indicates whether the respondent, or anyone in the respondent's family for which the respondent is proxy reporting, has a hearing problem, as recorded from questions contained in either the Health Conditions or Hearing Supplement pages of the 1990 survey.
Respondents were first asked in the "Health Conditions" section of the survey if "anyone in the family" currently had any of 27 impairments, including several hearing conditions (deafness, tinnitus, trouble hearing).
All respondents were then specifically asked about hearing conditions (see parts "H1" and "H2" of survey text) to further ascertain if the person was eligible for Hearing Supplement, which included a more extensive interview on the functional level of hearing, the age of onset of hearing problems, and the use of hearing aids. These questions again asked about deafness, trouble hearing and the use of a hearing aid by anyone in the respondent's family.
From the two sets of questions, respondents were indicated to have a hearing problem (HP) if it was indicated in the condition list that they had either deafness in one or both ears or any other trouble hearing with one or both ears. Respondents were also asked the Hearing Supplement if they indicated use of a hearing aid (by anyone in the family).
Comparability
This variable is only available for 1990. Researchers may want to note the use of proxy reporting of a hearing problem, wherein one member of the household could answer this question for other household members. Self-reporting is likely to be more accurate than proxy reporting. However, aside from its limitation as potentially less accurate, proxying reporting is mostly an issue when comparing to data that is purely self-reported.
Universe
- 1990: All persons.
Availability
- 1990
Weights
- 1990 : PERWEIGHT
