The Shepherd Centre has announced a pioneering partnership with Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture Hospital which aims to improve outcomes for Japanese children with hearing loss and cochlear implants.
In Australia, 94% of children with hearing loss are diagnosed before three months of age but in Japan, it takes significantly more time for diagnosis and intervention to occur. Australian children also typically receive cochlear implants at six months of age compared with two years for children in Japan.
Japan also has separate schooling for children with hearing loss. In 2023, all 65 graduates from The Shepherd Centre enrolled in their primary school of choice with listening and spoken abilities comparable to their hearing peers. In contrast, Japanese children with significant hearing loss are educated separately, impacting their development and social integration.
The collaboration, formally unveiled at Parliament House in Canberra on 2 July 2024, will see the export of more than 50 years of The Shepherd Centre’s knowledge, systems and expertise to Japan.
A pilot program, launching in April 2025, will introduce the first publicly funded early intervention service in Japan, enabling children with cochlear implants to develop listening and spoken language skills.
“We are thrilled to announce our partnership with the Shizuoka Prefecture to launch this transformative pilot program for children with cochlear implants,” said Dr Aleisha Davis, CEO The Shepherd Centre. “This collaboration is the culmination of a decade-long relationship, sharing The Shepherd Centre’s expertise and world-leading experience in Australia, to create a world of choice and opportunity for children with hearing loss in Japan.”
CEO and president of Cochlear, Mr Dig Howitt, added: “This is an indicator of the strength of the relationship between Japan and Australia but also the potential to change the lives of children. And to see that replicated across Japan, as it has been across Australia, would be an outstanding outcome.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms Penny Wong, who attended the announcement at Parliament House said: “We know that too often, progress towards greater inclusion for deaf communities in our society stalls or regresses in challenging times.
“That is why it is a pleasure to launch the first ever speech and language program for Japanese children with cochlear implants in a pilot that is a testament to the potential that lies in Australia and Japan collaborations.
“I want to acknowledge that it is jointly funded by the Australia-Japan Foundation and the Shizuoka Government. For almost 50 years, the Australia-Japan Foundation – Australia’s oldest cultural council – has been building our bilateral links and contributing to projects such as these.”
A total $6.5 million in funding supports the three-year pilot program funded by the Shizuoka Prefecture and Japanese governments, with additional support from the Australia-Japan Foundation.
Shizuoka Prefecture Hospital representative Dr Akira Takagi also attended the launch.
The program is a unique example of an Australian-developed service (The Shepherd Centre) and a medical product (cochlear implants) being exported to a major trading partner. While not a formal agreement between Cochlear and The Shepherd Centre, the pilot includes cochlear implant recipients, continuing a long-standing relationship between the organisations.
Experts from The Shepherd Centre will collaborate with and provide world class training to Japanese clinicians in Shizuoka, offering tailored programs and training to build local capability.
The centre said Japanese children with hearing loss faced significant challenges, including delayed diagnosis and limited access to specialised services. Although the Japan Hearing Vision initiative, launched in 2019, had made strides in newborn hearing screening and early cochlear implantation there remained a lack of specialised services to teach children how to use their devices effectively across Japan.
The Shepherd Centre is a not-for-profit providing specialised programs for children with hearing loss and their families. Its programs meet the needs of children of all ages from a world-leading early intervention system for babies and toddlers, through to its mentoring program, Hear for You, which supports school-aged children and teenagers.
The centre currently supports more than 900 families across Australia with online telehealth sessions for rural and regional areas, in-person centres in NSW, Tasmania and the ACT and a range of workshops in Queensland for children and teenagers.
Its global platform HearHub supports health professionals working with children with hearing loss worldwide.
