Although the National Institutes of Health (NIH) mandated the inclusion and reporting of women and racial or ethnic minority groups in NIH-funded research in 1993, little is known regarding the representation of women and racial or ethnic minority groups in trials that investigate hearing loss management.

We assess sex and racial/ethnic representation in US-based clinical trials of hearing loss management in an adult population.

studies were identified using search strategies in PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov.

Our search strategy yielded 6196 studies. We included prospective studies that were written in English, performed in the US, and evaluated hearing loss management in adults, including amplification devices, such as hearing aids or assistive listening devices, cochlear implants, aural rehabilitation, and therapeutics.

Given its prevalence, only studies that addressed bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were included.

Data Extraction and Synthesis  Data from 125 studies were extracted. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses diagram for systematic reviews was used for abstracting data.

The guidelines were applied using independent extraction by multiple observers.