The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has just released the second annual report on the hearing health component of the Federal Government’s Stronger Futures program in the Northern Territory. The AIHW is the government agency responsible for providing information and statistics on the health of Australians.
Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children experience very high levels of ear disease and hearing loss, comparable in some areas to rates found in developing countries. In general, remote areas experience higher rates than urban areas.
There is s relationship between high levels of ear disease and disadvantage. In general, the more layers of disadvantage experienced by a community or family, the worse the rate and severity of ear disease.
The report summarises progress of the NT Healthy Hearing program. It talks about the number of hearing and ear health related services delivered to children, and referrals to other organisations, including to Australian Hearing.
Some of key finding are:
- 1,764 children and young people received an audiology service. Of those, 55% had hearing loss.
- 67% of children assessed were diagnosed with a middle ear condition in 2013-14, an increase from 61% in 2012-13.
- The hearing health of a large proportion of the children and young people who received more than two audiology services improved.
Australian Hearing receives referrals from and refers to the Healthy Hearing program. We are partner services in the NT, with different focuses. Our focus is on the children with persistent hearing loss who need help to hear well while their hearing is down.
In the 2013-2014 financial year period, 25 Australian Hearing Outreach audiologists made just over 170 visits to 60 communities in the Northern Territory, providing rehabilitative hearing services to children, young adults and eligible older adults.
During the year ending 31 December 2013, we supported 596 Aboriginal children and young adults in the NT with hearing loss. 99 of those clients were fitted with hearing for the first time during that period.
For more information on our services to children and young adults with hearing loss, please refer to our annually published report: Demographic Details of young Australians aged less than 26 years with a hearing impairment, who have been fitted with a hearing aid or cochlear implant at 31 December 2013.
By Sam Harkus, Manager of Australian Hearing’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services – Clinical Support