Charles Darwin University has launched a Bachelor of Audiometry to provide a long-awaited higher education pathway for Australia’s audiometrists. Lecturer KERRY BELL and student NASH OCTOBER provide insights.
For audiometrists juggling work in hearing clinics and life, including family responsibilities, finding time to attend a university course in person can be difficult.
That’s why Charles Darwin University (CDU)’s flexible online model is proving to be a major drawcard for its new Bachelor of Audiometry degree. The institution is based in the Northern Territory but has plenty of experience running online degrees, including its Master of Clinical Audiology.
The Bachelor of Audiometry’s first intake in March 2026 has attracted 12 students from around Australia who are working in hearing clinics and looking to deepen their knowledge, upskill, and expand their career opportunities, potentially progressing to a Master of Clinical Audiology.
Audiologist and lecturer Kerry Bell, who’s the course coordinator of the Bachelor of Audiometry and the clinical education coordinator for audiology, said the new course was developed in response to industry demand, including from the Australian College of Audiology incorporating HAASA (ACAud inc. HAASA).
“ACAud approached CDU and this, along with general demand from the industry, is what’s led to the course,” she says.
There was a bachelor-level audiometry qualification in NSW several years ago but Bell says there has been no such pathway for some time.
“We’re providing a pathway for audiometrists to get into higher education (university) and broaden and deepen their education as health professionals,” she says. “The degree also creates a streamlined pathway into CDU’s Master of Clinical Audiology.”
Students who complete the bachelor can move onto the master degree with recognition of prior learning for some subjects, and without having to do all units for the master degree, she says.
FLEXIBLE STUDY
The course has been designed with working hearing care professionals in mind, and all students must have a Diploma of Audiometry before starting.
“They’re all working in hearing clinics, and have busy lives, juggling family, work and study,” Bell says.
She says the bachelor can be completed in two years full-time, or over four years part-time, with flexibility a standout feature of the program.
“We try to be really flexible,” Bell says. “Depending on their circumstances, students can maybe cut back to a part-time load or do three units per semester or even increase units. We’re happy to discuss that with each student on a case-by-case basis.”
It’s delivered primarily online through a mix of asynchronous and synchronous learning.
“Largely, lectures are recorded and students watch them in their own time, allowing them to study when it suits them, replay content and fit learning around work and family commitments,” Bell says. “They also attend live online group work and group learning sessions.”
Live tutorials are generally weekly depending on the unit, giving students opportunities to ask questions and engage with lecturers and classmates. Additionally, there are online discussion boards for questions about unit content.
“CDU also has a support network around study skills, learning support, wellbeing and health services, career counselling, and access and inclusion support,” Bell adds.
CORE SUBJECTS AND ELECTIVES
The program includes nine core subjects, three specialist electives and two general elective units, with assessment methods extending beyond traditional exams.
“Assessments are a real mix,” Bell says. “Students might do project-based work, orals, written assessments, group work and exams.”
Subjects are taught by a range of specialists from different disciplines. “If they’re studying epidemiology, they’ll have a specialist in epidemiology. If they’re studying counselling skills, the lecturer is from social work with a specialisation in counselling,” she says.
Students have responded positively to the breadth and depth of learning.
“It’s always a steep learning curve in that first semester,” Bell says. “But they seem really enthused and positive about the different things they’re learning.”
Even experienced clinicians are discovering new perspectives.
“With subjects that students thought they might already be across, they’re finding new depths in those topics,” Bell adds.
The audiometry degree also incorporates practical and face-to-face experiences. Students complete two community health practicums that are project-based rather than traditional clinical placements.
“These community practicums are about working with a health service or community health organisation in a variety of different projects,” Bell says.
Students also travel to Darwin for short audiology intensives later in the course. During these on-campus sessions, they gain practical experience in areas such as tinnitus, paediatric testing, and bone conduction hearing aids.
“On campus, we’ve got an audiology clinic,” Bell says. “For paediatrics, for example, we have real patients that students can observe and interact with.”
Taken together, the course reflects CDU’s broader commitment to regional and remote Australia. The university has a strong commitment to people who live in these areas or in resource-poor communities, providing pathways and opportunities for people outside of major cities, Bell says.
CDU also provides dedicated support services for First Nations students.
Bell, who has worked as an audiologist since 2010, brings extensive clinical experience to the role, having worked in everything from public health to implantable devices, humanitarian audiology and rehab.
She formally joined CDU in 2024 after previously undertaking casual teaching there and is excited to see how the inaugural cohort progresses.
LEARNING ONLINE ‘AT MY PACE’
One of the first students to study the CDU Bachelor of Audiometry, Brisbane audiometrist Nash October, who started working at Specsavers in April 2026, says she is loving the course.
Originally from South Africa, October moved to New Zealand as a teenager with her parents. Her first exposure to the hearing industry was while working in a public hospital ENT clinic in Whanganui, NZ.
The ENT specialist she worked for shared rooms with Bay Audiology and encouraged her to apply for a front-of-house role when the company opened locally.
“I was at Bay Audio in New Zealand for a few years,” October says. “During this time my Mum was diagnosed with hearing loss, so I know first-hand about living with someone with hearing loss.
“Mum had noise-induced hearing loss after working in the printing industry in the days when they didn’t generally wear hearing protection or have much awareness about industrial deafness.”
In 2018, October moved to Australia with her husband, and her mother, and worked at iHear in the rural town of Warwick, Queensland.
COVID-19 prompted another move to Brisbane, where she continued working for iHear, then Connect Hearing. Simultaneously, she spent two years studying her Diploma of Audiometry online from TAFE, while helping to raise the couple’s young child.
She discovered the CDU course through communications from ACAud inc. HAASA and was particularly attracted by the recognition of prior learning from her audiometry diploma qualification and the online flexibility which enables her to work part-time, study and continue raising her children.
“One of the biggest advantages is it allows me to do distance learning online and at my pace,” October says.
She hopes it will eventually help her progress into audiology.
“My final destination will be audiology,” she says. “The CDU degree is my bridging stone. It’s been really good, and I love how supportive the lecturers are and how approachable everybody is.”
The small cohort has developed strong peer connections despite being geographically spread.
“We’ve started a WhatsApp group – our own little study group, and we feed off each other and support each other,” October adds.
BROADER HEALTH SUBJECTS
She’s also delighted that the course content is broader than she expected.
“I was expecting hearing and technical things but this semester I’m studying epidemiology, health science and counselling, which help put everything into perspective,” she says.
Like many mature-age students, she completes much of her study at night after her children are in bed and during her two non-working days.
For October, the opportunity represents career progression and the chance to continue making a difference in patients’ lives. She encourages audiometrists considering the degree to ‘just do it’.
“We’re in an industry where there will continue to be a strong need for audiologists and audiometrists, now and into the future,” she says. “It’s incredibly rewarding, and by the end of the degree you’ll be able to support and help your patients even more.”
Applications for the next intake in March 2027 are expected to open in August 2026.
See cdu.edu.au.
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