Anne-Marie Banfield Hearing Australia Dec 2021

16 November 2021

Hearing Australia’s First Nations Services Unit is working to improve the hearing health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

Hearing Australia has established a First Nations Services Unit to better meet the hearing health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

“With our dedicated First Nations team, we’re making it easier and faster for children, families and communities to get the hearing help they need,” says Mr Kim Terrell, Managing Director, Hearing Australia.

The Unit will bring together the delivery of Hearing Australia’s three Australian Government funded programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: the Hearing Assessment Program – Early Ears (HAPEE) program, the Community Service Obligations (CSO) component of the Hearing Services program and the recently established Listen to Learn program.

“This will help us collaborate with our partners to provide more effective, coordinated, and culturally appropriate services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia, regardless of their age, location or hearing need,” says Kim.

In 2020-21, Hearing Australia worked with communities across Australia to assess the hearing health of more than 10,000 First Nations children aged zero to six through the HAPEE program.

These assessments are undertaken by highly trained audiologists and are free* to families. Checking the ear and hearing health of young children is a critical step to preventing long-term ear disease and hearing loss for the one in four children that are being found to have undiagnosed ear disease or hearing loss, requiring referral to clinical specialists1.

Hearing Australia also provided fully subsidised hearing services and devices to more than 11,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through the CSO program.

Hearing Australia has delivered outreach services and worked with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for over 40 years. Currently, Hearing Australia provides outreach services to 285 communities and this number continues to grow.

Research also shows the long-term benefits of supporting and working with local communities. In 2008, just 4.6 per cent of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children with a hearing loss aged under 20 were aided with a hearing device before the age of three years. By 2020, this had lifted to 12.7 per cent2, thereby reducing the impacts of hearing loss on their development and education.

The First Nations Unit works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies, ear health coordinators and other key ear health stakeholders to address the high rates of ear disease and hearing loss in First Nations children. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children have some of the highest rates of middle ear infection, otitis media, in the world3