Hundreds of thousands of Australian schoolchildren will be able to have their hearing checked online under a new project announced by the Minister for Hearing Services, Ken Wyatt.
Mr Wyatt said the national roll-out of an Australian-developed mobile app for a user-friendly hearing test would benefit up to 600,000 school aged children between four and 17 each year for the next five years.
He said the tests would be conducted using the Sound Scouts program, which was engaging and fun, but with serious benefits for children.
“A recent study found that up to 1.3 million Australians are living with hearing conditions that could have been prevented,” Mr Wyatt said.
“We know that delays in recognising and treating hearing loss in children’s first few years of school can be profound and long lasting, undermining their future prospects,” he said.
Minister for Human Services and Digital Transformation, Michael Keenan said children with hearing problems might be unable to hear their teacher or understand their friends talking to them in a noisy classroom.
“They are more likely to struggle to meet learning milestones or develop social skills and can quickly fall behind their peers,” Mr Keenan said.
“Once identified through the Sound Scouts system, these young children can be referred for further testing and appropriate support and have the best chance of reaching their full potential.”
The Ministers said Sound Scouts was currently the only tool of its kind available in Australia validated by the National Acoustic Laboratories, the research arm of Australian Hearing.
