Impairments on vision and hearing – An evidence and gap map of studies with Norwegian data
Mapping review
|Published
We prepared an evidence and gap map (EGM) of scientific articles that includes Norwegian data on disabilities related to vision, hearing and deafblindness.
Key message
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health is considering expanding The Public Health Report with a chapter on disabilities. For this, there is a need to obtain an overview of relevant research publications.
We prepared an evidence and gap map (EGM) of scientific articles that includes Norwegian data on disabilities related to vision, hearing and deafblindness.
We performed systematic searches for primary studies published 1990 - 2025, which deal with people residing in Norway with disabilities due to vision and hearing impairment, regardless of age and cause. We included studies published in referee-based journals regardless of study design. Outcome areas (types of outcomes) relevant to the Public Health Report were included, but we did not address issues about etiologi, effect of interventions or basic medical research.
A total of 248 publications were included: 144 on hearing impairment, 74 on visual impairment, 15 on both visual and hearing impairment, and 15 articles on deafblindness.
This evidence and gap map contains articles that address all age groups from newborns to geriatric populations. Areas covered in the articles were coded within 25 categories. We coded the most articles for assistive devices (n=88), school, education and work (n=50), and quality of life and coping (n=49).
The research map revealed many research gaps for questions about what it is like to live with sensory loss in Norway and what it means for public health.
The data from the research map is made available to all interested parties in the digital platform EPPI-Vis.
