One in four First Nations children has undiagnosed ear disease, and one in five has undiagnosed hearing loss, an alarming new analysis of clinical findings has revealed.
Hearing Australia recently analysed the hearing assessments of 19,000 First Nations children across Australia as part of its Hearing Assessment Program – Early Ears (HAPEE).
It released the data yesterday 3 July 2024 in preparation for NAIDOC Week kicking off on Sunday 7 July.
Key findings include:
- more than 26% of children assessed had undiagnosed ear disease
- 20% had undiagnosed hearing loss
- children under age two had more ear trouble than older children
- those in very remote locations had more problems than those in regional or metropolitan areas.
Otitis media in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remains among the highest globally and there is overwhelming evidence that hearing loss in young children can impact their learning and development.
“The good news is we are making headway in seeing children and getting them the help they need,” said Yorta Yorta woman Ms Kirralee Cross, Cultural Leader from Hearing Australia’s First Nations Services Unit.
“In 2022-2023, we assessed 14,435 First Nations children, the most in any year since the HAPEE program began in 2019.
“The data shows that while 60 per cent of children have better hearing health when seen at a follow-up appointment, more needs to be done to improve community awareness of the importance of ear and hearing health.”
Cross said there needed to be a paradigm shift to tackle otitis media among First Nations children.
“Ear infections are common in children but for First Nations children they typically occur more often, start very early in life and last longer. There’s an urgent need for action at many levels – from the health system, service providers, practitioners and parents/caregivers,” she said.
“First Nations cultures are traditionally shared through language, dance, song and art so not only do we need to ensure our children can hear well to learn but we also need our children to hear well to learn the stories being passed down by Elders to help keep our culture alive.”
She urged parents to speak up if they had concerns and to get their children’s hearing checked regularly even if no obvious signs of problems.
“Middle ear disease can be difficult to detect; there may be no symptoms like earache or fever which is why we also urge primary healthcare providers to assess ear health early, effectively and regularly to identify First Nations children with persistent problems, and get appropriate treatment and support in place,” she said.
A recently published paper released new evidence and consensus-based recommendations for routine Ear Health and Hearing Checks (EHHC) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged under six years.
The recommendations, for primary health practitioners, are to do six monthly checks until age four then one check at five years of age and more frequent checks in high-risk settings and for children under two.
Ear health checks at every healthcare visit
The paper references the Otitis Media Guidelines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children which advocate that ear health checks occur for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children during every primary healthcare visit.
But previous research has reported that parents, caregivers and health practitioners say this hasn’t been happening and checks are most likely to happen only when parents or caregivers request them.
The recommendations include routine use of tympanometry.
“HAPEE program data shows that children who fail tympanometry tests have a much higher likelihood of hearing loss,” Cross said. “To enable the routine use of tympanometry, Hearing Australia offers training and support to primary healthcare providers.”
Mr Kim Terrell, Hearing Australia’s managing director, said the HAPEE program, which was delivered in partnership with multiple Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and local communities, was crucial to improving the hearing health of First Nations children and building capabilities of primary health services.
“We are fortunate to work with many amazing partners and we acknowledge their commitment to helping prevent avoidable hearing loss in First Nations children,” he said.
“Checking the ear and hearing health of young children is a critical step to preventing long-term ear disease and hearing loss. With the support of government and our many partners, we will continue to listen to First Nations peoples and work closely with communities and local services to improve the ear and hearing health of individuals and families.”
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