The University of Melbourne has celebrated the 50th anniversary of the launch of its audiology degree, the largest and oldest course of its kind in Australia. Many have passed through the hallowed halls of the esteemed institution and graduated as audiologists.
The University of Melbourne audiology course was pivotal in laying the foundations for the audiology profession in Australia and further developing it. From just 12 students in the inaugural 1974 cohort, it has grown significantly to match demand with 82 first year students in 2024. In the past five decades, it has sent thousands of audiologists into the world to improve the hearing health of the nation.
It was the first university to offer an audiology course in Australia and New Zealand. After Professor Graeme Clark’s appointment as the Professor of Otolaryngology at the university in 1970, he led the creation of the course which launched in 1974 as a one-year graduate diploma.
Head of the Audiology and Speech Pathology Department Associate Professor Dani Tomlin says the course was introduced due to an increasing need for people who understood the science of hearing and how it was relevant for patients clinically.
The university decided to offer graduate training in audiology to reflect this work as a more clinical profession, joining the existing Department of Otolaryngology in the faculty of Medicine, she explains. It changed to a two-year Master of Clinical Audiology program in 1998, with the first students graduating in 1999.
“We are proud of the role that the course has had in further developing the profession, including its role in early cochlear implantation research and laying the foundations for the profession in Australia,” A/Prof Tomlin tells Hearing Practitioner Australia.
Mr Field Rickards, (later Professor Rickards) was appointed its first lecturer in 1973 to teach the 1974 cohort and remained a lecturer and then senior lecturer until 1989. Initially there were only a few lecturers, with just one to two for the first few years, compared to today’s staff of more than 20.
“When setting up the audiology course, there was an emphasis on producing graduate audiologists with a strong understanding of integration of results and appropriate management of hearing conditions,” A/Prof Tomlin says. “Changing technology has altered many audiologists’ roles. Advancements in areas such as hearing aid and cochlear implant technology and testing using evoked potential testing allows many different options for audiologists to be involved in while assessing and managing hearing healthcare.”
An audiology clinic was set up in 1975, as part of the Department of Otolaryngology, primarily seeing a small number of private patients. “The clinic has changed to run as a busy private clinic run by Melbourne Teaching Health Clinics, providing clinical placements to students and service to clients across many audiological aspects, including paediatric, adult rehabilitation and vestibular clinics,” A/Prof Tomlin says.
A bright future
Today’s curriculum includes more than just clinical skills, now incorporating current health themes, interprofessional practice and person-centred care to ensure graduates are well prepared for practising in a changing health environment.
“The Master of Clinical Audiology, a two-year entry to practice degree, prepares graduates for professional practice in the space of hearing and balance disorder detection and management,” A/Prof Tomlin says. Through the initiatives and innovations of the teaching team, themes of communication, professionalism, First Nations health, global audiology and interprofessional practice have been woven into learning opportunities for students whilst clinical skills develop.
“It is through this program that the teaching team has ensured a course that fosters professional, compassionate, global citizens with a person-centric focus,” A/Prof Tomlin says.
The audiology teaching team has been recognised for different aspects of the course over recent years and in 2023, was awarded the university’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences award for sustained teaching excellence.
A/Prof Tomlin predicts education will adapt to reflect changes to the profession.“An increasing emphasis on person-centred-care and interdisciplinary practice has been introduced to the course to help better prepare students for the current profession,” she says. “The teaching team continues to excel in its approach to teaching and learning, whilst continually developing innovative approaches that align with the strategies of the university and values of the faculty.”
The team has established global partnerships with universities and health-care providers but has equally focused on the importance of local community partnerships with First Nations community-based health. These connections and shared teaching and clinical placement experiences ensure students leave the course with cultural experiences and a global perspective on health care, she says.
“The audiology team has a focus on interdisciplinary collaborative practice leading the way in multidisciplinary placement and teaching opportunities with physiotherapy, dentistry, optometry, social work, music, and speech pathology,” A/Prof Tomlin explains. “Final year students also undertake independent research study in collaboration with industry partners.”
In 2024, a new audiology curriculum was introduced for the first-year cohort to reflect changes in audiology practice, focussing on greater emphasis of professional practice. “While this new course aims to maintain excellent clinical skills, further emphasis is also placed on clinical communication, evidence-based practice, and First Nations healthcare,” A/Prof Tomlin says.
While a Doctor of Audiology had been explored in recent years as occurs in America, it was felt that at the time “this was not appropriate for our local market; however, we are continually engaging with industry and alumni to ensure our course offerings are appropriate for the profession” she adds. “The department is dedicated to shaping the future hearing health care workforce for the next 50 years.”
Celebrations a hit
More than 180 guests attended the 50th Anniversary of Audiology celebrations at Melbourne Connect in May 2024. The event kickstarted the first Inaugural Audiology Annual Conversation, which explored audiology’s role in increasing health span.
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Professor Jane Gunn, and A/ Prof Dani Tomlin welcomed guests. Keynote speakers were Professor Julia Sarant and Professor Barbara Weinstein and a panel discussion including alumni and consumers of hearing healthcare was facilitated by Professor Bob Cowan. Invited speakers were Ms Sally Woods, Ms Jane MacDonald, Mr John Langford, Mr Matt Grounds, Professor Bruce Thompson, A/Professor Dani Tomlin, Professor Field Rickards, Professor Richard Dowell and Dr Sally Cockburn.
The discussion explored promotion of collaborative care, emphasising the importance of breaking down silos to deliver more holistic services in the healthcare system. Panellists also discussed artificial intelligence and necessary adaptations in audiology training, and networking occurred for alumni and professional peers to reconnect with former classmates and colleagues and engage with current audiology students.
A highlight was a video message from Professor Graeme Clark AC, Lasker Laureate.
“This anniversary is a 50-year milestone for the university’s audiology and speech pathology course and also a milestone for the discipline in Australia,” he said in the video swhich can be seen at healthsciences.unimelb.edu.au. “Congratulations to you all. You have achieved much more than we could ever have imagined.”
In the 1960s, ENT surgeons performed audiometry in their back offices and CAL (the Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories), later NAL (the National Acoustic Laboratories), had psychologists do speech tests for hearing aids. “When I arrived in Melbourne in January 1970 to take up the Chair in Otolaryngology, I was greeted by highly motivated people who wanted to see change and university courses established. Chief among those movers and shakers was Mrs Nancy John (founder of the Advisory Council for Children with Impaired Hearing),” Prof Clark said.
“Our group moved into action and formed a committee that convinced the state government that university training in audiology would improve standards and help the people. To make sure, the government invited Professor Ian Taylor from Manchester University to check us out. Then we had to convince the university that audiology had academic merit and it was finally approved in 1973.”
Prof Clark said he had a vision that future audiologists should be knowledgeable in the basic sciences and so his post-graduate student with a major in physics Prof Rickards was appointed to lead the course. “He did an outstanding job,” Prof Clark said. “Our first year was tough as we were teaching some senior audiologists, then over the next few years the course gained momentum and became very popular as a career.”
Simultaneously the department was doing research to see if electrical stimulation of the brain could help people understand speech. “When we discovered a cochlear implant was possible, the next big thing was who should clinically manage the patient?” Prof Clark said in the video. Fortunately there were now experienced audiologists with various scientific backgrounds and he paid tribute to all involved but mentioned the first two, Ms Angela Marshall and Ms Lois Martin.
When Cochlear developed the cochlear implant, he said the university became the main test centre and in 1982 Prof Richard Dowell was the audiologist who managed the first patient to receive a commercial multi-channel cochlear implant, Mr Graham Carrick. “We became a united group studying diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss. In 1985 we implanted our first young child Scott Smith and again audiologists played an essential role. I congratulate all audiologists for selecting this career and may the course go from strength to strength.”
