White paper on hearing loss in care homes published
A collaboration between Engage, a deaf-awareness training and development organisation, Care England and care home provider Nightingale Hammerson has produced a white paper entitled ‘Hearing Loss in Care Homes – A Call to Action’.
The white paper includes practical experiences from the work of Engage across multiple care homes, alongside extensive research and insights from Nightingale Hammerson where the Engage project has been running for over three years. Featuring multiple mentions for dementia, the white paper calls for urgent and coordinated action to improve support for care home residents living with hearing loss and includes both solutions and case studies.
Engage say:
“The white paper takes recommendations from research carried out by University of Manchester researchers based at the Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness (ManCAD). They found that unaddressed hearing loss is highly prevalent in care homes, impacting on residents’ quality of life. The research identified several barriers relating to caregivers’ knowledge of hearing loss and opportunities for care homes to work with audiologists. Unclear responsibilities relating to hearing care and residents’ difficulties adapting to, or being comfortable wearing, hearing aids were also identified.
With at least 80% of residents in older people’s care homes living with hearing loss, the paper highlights the widespread impact of unaddressed hearing needs – from increased risks of dementia and falls to social isolation, depression, and avoidable distress.”
You can read the white paper here: https://engagecare.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Hearing-Loss-in-Care-Homes-Engage-Nightingale-Hammerson-Care-England-digital.pdf