1. Alison King Principal Audiologist, Paediatric Services A profile of hearing impaired children in Australia

2. Overview – 31 December 2009  15,515 Australian children who are fitted amplification for a permanent or long term hearing loss.  45.9% Female; 52.8% Male – 1.3% info unavailable  1,544 (10%) of aided children identify as Indigenous. – 68% of these children seen on outreach visits  2035 children first fitted in 2009. – 310 Indigenous children first fitted in 2009 Highest so far

3. Where do our aided children live?

4. What sort of hearing loss do they have?

5. Hearing loss distribution for aided children – Dec 2006 vs. Dec 2009

6. When did they get their first hearing aids? Children first fitted in 2009.

7. Have fitting patterns changed over time?

8. What is the hearing loss profile for each age group? Children first fitted in 2009.

9. Newborn Hearing Screening has increased early fitting rates Not all HI babies born in 2009 will have been ascertained by 31/12/09

10. Summary  Over ¾ of aided children have a mild or moderate degree of hearing loss in their better ear.  The proportion of aided children who have a mild hearing loss has increased over the past 3 years.  Rollout of NHS continues to increase the proportion of children who receive their first hearing aids before 6 months of age – However the numbers fitted are still less than predicted from an incidence of 1.2 per thousand births  Another large group of children are first fitted with hearing aids around school-entry age – And these tend to be children with average hearing levels < 30dBHL in the better ear.

11. Aided Indigenous Children

12. Where do aided Indigenous children live? Distribution by state/territory

13. The number of aided Indigenous children has increased by 67.5% over the past 3 years

14. Fitting patterns differ for Indigenous children

15. Hearing Loss Distribution – Indigenous children compared with total aided children

16. Summary  Indigenous children form a higher proportion of the aided child client base than predicted from population data – Reflects the higher rates of chronic OM  Increase in fittings over the past 3 years  Most fittings occur in early primary school – Reflects predominance of school-based service delivery models of detection & intervention  Fitting rates for children < 3 years are low. – Exploring alternative service delivery models, portable infant test equipment, educational strategies

17. Hearing Aid Usage – Children aged less than 13 years. 2705 respondents (40.7%)

18. Hours usage by age group – children <13y Paediatric Hearing Aid Use & Satisfaction Survey, 2008 “5” = 8 h/day “3” = 4- 8 h/day

19. Hours usage by hearing loss – children <13y Paediatric Hearing Aid Use & Satisfaction Survey, 2008 “5” = 8+ hrs/day “3” = 4-8 hrs/day

20. Fitting configuration – severe hearing loss NeverOne AidTwo Aids One Aid + CI CI OnlyTwo CI 0% 7%71%17%2.1%1.7%

21. Fitting configuration – children with profound Hearing Loss

22. Summary  Older children use their hearing aids more often than younger children – Greatest variability in usage amongst infants  HA usage increases with degree of hearing loss – Except for profound losses, probably due to children using cochlear implants  The majority of children who have a profound loss have at least one cochlear implant and approximately one in five children with a severe loss in their better ear have a cochlear implant

23. Thanks to – Ron Oong, Business Analyst, Australian Hearing – Prof. Harvey Dillon, National Acoustic Laboratories. Further demographic information can be found at www.hearing.com.au