Innovative research, including a trial investigating hydrogen peroxide for otitis media, and a project to grow inner ear tissue from patient stem cells to test new treatments for Usher syndrome, has received federal government funding.
The research is among eight hearing related projects that have received funds from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grants. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing updated a report on grant details on 24 September 2025.
The otitis media trial involves using hydrogen peroxide for persistent chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) in First Nations children.
Funding of $4,214,046 will allow researchers to compare topical hydrogen peroxide followed by the topical (antibiotic) ciprofloxacin, with ciprofloxacin treatment alone, to manage CSOM that has failed to resolve with standard treatment.
“It’s time to test a cheap, frequently recommended, antiseptic treatment,” said the chief investigator, Dr Jemima Beissbarth, senior research officer from the Menzies School of Health Research.
“CSOM is the most severe form of middle ear disease, characterised by a hole in the eardrum, though which discharge drains (for longer than two weeks). CSOM disproportionally impacts children living in low socioeconomic conditions, including remote-living First Nations children.”
Other researchers in the team are Dr Yitayal Anteneh, Dr Michael Binks, Associate Professor Christopher Brennan-Jones, Dr Nicholas Fancourt, Professor Kelvin Kong, Professor Amanda Leach, Dr Suresh Mahendran, Associate Professor Robyn Marsh, Professor Peter Morris, Dr Victor Oguoma, Dr Hemi Patel and Professor Heidi Smith-Vaughan.
Other grants funded were for:
- Usher syndrome: Australian scientists are growing inner ear tissue from patient stem cells to test new treatments for Usher syndrome.
The University of Western Australia researchers received $2,215,017 for their human retinal and inner ear organoid platform for pre-clinical screening of novel therapeutics for Usher syndrome (USH). An organoid platform is a system for growing three-dimensional, organ-like structures called organoids from stem cells or tissue-derived cells to mimic real organs in a laboratory setting.
Chief investigator Dr Sam McLenachan, senior scientist of the Ocular Tissue Engineering Laboratory and a lead researcher in the Genetic Eye Disease and Gene Therapy research program at the Lions Eye Institute, is leading the project.
“Usher syndrome is a cruel and incurable disease that robs patients of both sight and hearing,” he wrote in the grant brief. “In this project, we bring together experts in eye and ear clinical care and research to develop new treatments for USH.
“Our clinicians will prepare our USH patients for inclusion in upcoming clinical trials.
“In parallel, our scientists will grow retinal and inner ear tissues from patient stem cells in the lab and use them to evaluate the promising new USH treatments being developed by our team.”
Other researchers in the team include Dr Daniel Brown, Professor Stephen Wilton, Associate Professor Fred Chen, Associate Professor Elaine Wong, Associate Professor Hani Al-Salami, Dr Livia Carvalho and Professor Marcus Atlas.
- Dementia care at home: A University of Queensland home hearing and vision care project to improve quality of life for people with dementia and carers received $1,361,891.
Chief investigator, Professor Piers Dawes, said, in the grant brief, that home care helped people with dementia continue to live in their own homes, rather than aged care.
“But more than 70% of people have hearing or vision problems that worsen the impact of dementia, reduce quality of life and ability to live independently,” he said. “Effective hearing and vision support is available, but most hearing and vision problems are not properly supported.
“We will work with older people to understand the barriers, then develop and test interventions to improve hearing and vision care.”
Other researchers are Professor Brenda Gannon, Associate Professor Hamid Sohrabi, Dr Carly Meyer, Professor Judy Lowthian, Dr John Newall, Professor Lisa Keay, Professor Nancy Pachana, Doctor Yuanyuan Gu, Dr Sheela Kumaraan, Associate Professor Iracema Leroi, Professor Chyrisse Heine, Dr Angelita Martini, Dr Marianne Coleman and Dr Sabrina Lenzen.
- Dementia care in aged care: Another University of Queensland project, SENSEcog aged care, focuses on hearing and vision support to improve quality of life for people living with dementia in residential aged care. It received $1,200,710.
Chief investigator Professor Piers Dawes said hearing and vision problems were common in people living with dementia in residential aged care but hearing and vision needs were often unsupported.
“Unsupported hearing/vision problems increase the impact of dementia, cause social isolation, reduce independence and worsen quality of life,” he said. “This study aims to improve quality of life for people with dementia by working with people with dementia, aged care and hearing/vision professionals to enable better ways of identifying and supporting hearing/vision needs.”
Other researchers are Professor Johanna Westbrook, Professor Ralph Martins, Dr Angelita Martini, Professor Lisa Keay, Associate Professor Iracema Leroi, Professor Colette Browning, Associate Professor Chyrisse Heine, Associate Professor Hamid Sohrabi and Dr Yuanyuan Gu.
- EarGenie for infants: The innovation for earlier intervention for infants with auditory neuropathy, providing lifelong benefit, received $392,940.
Professor Colette McKay from the Bionics Institute who has pioneered the EarGenie device. Image: The Bionics Institute.
Chief investigator, Professor Colette McKay from The Bionics Institute, said auditory neuropathy affected 10% of infants born with a hearing loss and was associated with severe difficulty distinguishing speech sounds.
“Currently, these infants are faced with greatly impaired language development and lifelong poor quality of life because we have to wait until they are around two years of age (too late for language development) to assess the severity of their neuropathy,” she said.
“Here, we use a novel brain imaging method to fast track early, appropriate, intervention for these infants.”
Others in the team are Dr Darren Mao and Professor Gary Rance.
- Older Indigenous people: University of Western Australia research understanding hearing loss to address the health needs of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people received $2,049,800.
“Preliminary work suggests Indigenous older people have higher levels of hearing loss compared with the general Australian population,” said chief investigator Professor Dawn Bessarab.
“We will investigate whether there is an association between untreated hearing loss from childhood into older adulthood, barriers to accessing rehabilitation services, and the impact on mental health, social isolation, quality of life, loneliness and cognitive functions in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”
Also in the research team are Dr Dona Jayakody, Professor Leon Flicker, Professor Osvaldo Almeida, Ms Roslyn Malay, Professor Robert Eikelboom, Dr Kate Smith, Professor Sandra Thompson, Dr Christine Clinch, Ms Angela Ryder, Professor Heather D’Antoine and Ms Lennelle Papertalk.
- Otitis media pathways: A case-study approach to improving care pathways for otitis media in Aboriginal children aged up to 12 received $1,961,473.
Chief investigator, Professor Catherine McMahon from Macquarie University, said persistent and pervasive middle ear disease in Aboriginal children had life-long effects on health, education, employment and social and emotional well-being.
“While considerable funding, goodwill and the fundamental building blocks have been in place for many years, the success of programs has been limited,” she said. “The study aims to explore the reasons for this, and co-design, implement and evaluate an alternative approach to addressing this major public health problem.”
Fellow researchers are Professor Elizabeth Pellicano, Mr Boe Rambaldini, Dr Kylie Gwynne, Ms Samantha Harkus, Dr Leanne Holt, Professor Harvey Coates, Dr Neil Orr, Professor Andrew Smith and Dr Liesa Clague.
- Overcoming racism: The Systematically and Together Overcoming Racism Model (STORM) is about co-designing a robust framework to reduce racism across the hearing health sector. The project received $744,026.
“Racism is a major barrier to accessing healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” said chief investigator, Professor Catherine McMahon from Macquarie University.
“Our interdisciplinary team of leaders in the ear and hearing health sector will build the evidence-base to reduce racism by developing and validating a tool to assess racism in the sector, assessing the amount of racism which currently exists, and co-designing aligned policies and practices across the sector.”
Other researchers are Mr Adrian Marrie, Professor Henrietta Marrie, Mr Luke Halvorsen, Mrs Rebecca Allnutt, Professor Kelvin Kong and Miss Donna Murray.
