Characterization of sleep among deaf individuals

Objectives: Numerous health disparities are documented in deaf population research, but few empirical sleep assessments exist for this under-served population, despite knowledge that sleep contributes to physical and mental health disparities. We sought to document subjective and objective sleep in deaf adults with crosssectional and prospective measures. Methods: Twenty deaf participants completed validated sleep and mental health questionnaires, 2-weeks of nightly sleep diaries and continuous wrist-worn actigraphy monitoring, and 1-week of nightly, reducedmontage EEG recordings. Results: Questionnaire data suggest high prevalence of insomnia (70%), poor sleep (75%), daytime sleepiness (25%) and nightmares (20%) among participants. Strong correlations were found between depression and sleep quality, fear of sleep, and insomnia severity (p's < .005). Objective sleep assessments suggest elevated wake after sleep onset and low sleep efficiency and sleep duration. Conclusions: The prevalence of sleep disturbance recorded from self-report and objective sleep measures provides preliminary evidence of sleep health disparity among deaf adults. (c) 2022 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.