An Australian study in wearers of hearing aids and cochlear implants has identified variability in hearing healthcare from GPs and audiologists.
Its senior author, Professor Bamini Gopinath, said findings reinforced that it was time to move to an integrated hearing care journey and recognise hearing health as being central to ageing well.
Prof Gopinath is the inaugural Cochlear Chair in Hearing and Health at Macquarie University Hearing.
With other researchers, she carried out interviews with a group of people aged 40 and over who use hearing aids, cochlear implants or both to learn more about their experiences with clinicians such as audiologists and doctors.
The qualitative sub-study in 31 people included 15 hearing aid users, nine cochlear implant users and seven bimodal users who wear both hearing aids and cochlear implants. It was published in the Australasian Journal on Ageing on 22 April 2025.
“One of the most striking themes we saw was the variability in hearing healthcare,” she said on Macquarie University’s news website The Lighthouse.
“Some people reported positive relationships with their GPs and audiologists, but many felt their needs weren’t being understood as well as they could be.
“One of the common points was that they said they wished their clinicians had better knowledge and understanding of hearing health and related problems, and how they impacted other aspects of their lives.”
For example, GPs often did not raise hearing health in any of their conversations with patients, Prof Gopinath said.
“Obviously, we expect our primary healthcare providers to manage an enormous range of conditions and they have many other competing priorities, so for some, hearing loss may be viewed as a non-critical condition that they don’t necessarily need to address as they would heart conditions or diabetes,” she said.
“Some participants said they felt hearing aids were the default position for their audiologists, and there was a lack of awareness about who was suitable for, and could benefit from, cochlear implants.”
Prof Gopinath said some participants shared stories of prolonged waits for assessments, miscommunication around eligibility, or financial concerns that had an impact on their hearing health journey.
“It’s time to reframe how we deliver care, moving away from isolated appointments to an integrated hearing care journey,” she said.
“They also reported feeling that their audiologists were doing the hearing tests but not asking how hearing loss was affecting other aspects of their lives, like work, relationships or mental health.”
Other findings included that government funding models such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the Hearing Services Program, were not always aligned with real-world needs of adults with hearing loss. In some cases, strict eligibility criteria and administrative hurdles discouraged or delayed people from seeking help, participants reported.
Participants in regional areas also noted difficulties in accessing specialised services, pointing to limited clinic options and the burden of managing multiple appointments for different devices.
Integrated care
The research team said it would like to see a more cohesive, multidisciplinary model of hearing care that incorporates medical, emotional and practical support throughout the patient journey.
This would involve better integration between primary care, audiologists, and community services, and would include shared care planning, clear referral pathways, and greater use of tools such as tele-audiology and digital apps, especially for people in rural and remote areas.
The results from the study also provided a strong basis for health policy reform, Prof Gopinath said, particularly as Australia faced increasing rates of hearing loss due to its ageing population.
“Hearing health must be recognised as central to ageing well,” she said. “It’s time to reframe how we deliver care, moving away from isolated appointments to an integrated hearing care journey that reduces the likelihood that people will miss out on what they need to live well.
“If we were to adopt a multidisciplinary approach where primary health, hearing care and rehabilitation services worked together to create an integrated care pathway, it would result in better support for patients.”
Prof Gopinath is working with colleagues to develop evidence-based, standardised guidelines around hearing healthcare to help educate and upskill GPs and audiologists.
“We want to ensure they are fully empowered and informed to not only discuss the available options with their clients but have those discussions at the right time,” she said.
The small study was part of the larger Hearing Impairment in Adults: Longitudinal Outcome Study (HALOS) in 750 people with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and/or hearing aids. The HALOS study aims to learn more about the benefits of hearing interventions for older adults to inform clinical practice, improve hearing healthcare and support development of new policy. Prof Gopinath is leader of the HALOS project.
