Association Between Hearing Impairment and Marital Satisfaction Among Hearing Impaired Married Individuals in Isinya Kajiado County, Kenya

Hearing impairment is frequently perceived negatively as it emphasizes what some humans are challenged with, and as such is regarded as a hidden disability because it is not visible and may pass unnoticed unlike the physical disability. This study investigated the association between hearing impairment and marital satisfaction among hearing impaired married individuals in Isinya, Kajiado County, Kenya. The study was guided by the social model theory (SMT) of disability promoted by a collection of organizations of disabled people in Britain and the social exchange theory (SET) is attributed to Carl Gasper (1958).
Materials and Methods: The study employed the correlational research design. Simple random sampling technique was utilized to select 250 participants, usingKrejcie and Morgan’s (1970) formula. Data was collected using standardized questionnaires (the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA)) was used to collect information from the participants of the study and the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants were collected using a structured questionnaire. The pre-testing sample of this study was carried out, 15 equivalents 10% of the sample size (151) was used for the pre-testing. Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) affirmed this procedure and recommended that 1-10% of pre-test sample was enough. Quantitative data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 26.
Results: The study captured a wide range of married individuals between 28-33 years old were at 43.1% (n = 69), while 1.9% (n = 3) were within the age range of 46-51 years old. The gender revealed that females were the highest participants at 55.6% (n = 89), while the males were at 44.4% (n= 71). On their level of education, 43.8% (n = 70) had certificate, while 26.3% (n = 41) had BA.The findings from descriptive statistical analysis demonstrated that 73% (n = 118) of the hearing-impaired married individuals in Isinya, Kajiado County Kenya, had a low score on marital satisfaction, while 5.6% (n = 2) of the hearing-impaired married individuals in Isinya, Kajiado County Kenya, had high level of marital satisfaction
Conclusion: The finding suggests that communication barriers, social isolation, and possibly unmet emotional or practical needs are contributing to marital dissatisfaction of the hearing-impaired married individuals in Isinya, Kajiado County in Kenya.

Hearing Impairment, Marital Satisfaction, Emotion Recognition, Emotion Regulation

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