Munson Klyn NA, et al. - Researchers conducted retrospective analyses of the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal survey of American adults of retirement age, to test the assumption that low health literacy is a barrier to entry in hearing healthcare, and therefore that health literacy would be positively associated with the probability of hearing aid use. Utilizing subsets of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults and the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (n = 1,240, n = 1,586, and n = 2,412), objective health literacy was measured in different but overlapping subsamples. Using a single-question screener, subjective health literacy was evaluated in a larger sample (n = 8,362). The findings, taken at face value, provide mixed evidence for a connection between health literacy and the use of hearing aids. The findings of the largest sample study, using the subjective health literacy measure, were consistent with the hypothesis that low health literacy is an obstacle to the use of hearing aids. Nevertheless, the analysis of the objective health literacy measures found in these studies did not support this. Further studies using full methods for assessing health literacy and collecting other relevant variables will provide clarity on this dispute. The level of literacy and conversation of clinical materials is a modifiable potential factor in the adoption of hearing aids, so further consideration of clinical and study is needed.