Ear Health

The Ear Health team's aim is to understand the causes of Otitis Media or OM (disease of the middle ear), identify the extent of the problem and design and evaluate interventions to reduce the burden of the disease and inform policy.

Our Ear Health team is a multidisciplinary group involved in epidemiological studies, qualitative research, data linkage, pathogenesis and clinical trials. An integral linkage for our team is the Aboriginal Community Advisory Group which guides the team in working in a culturally-sensitive manner and provides direction to ensure the program is relevant and appropriate for their communities.

We are part of the national Centre of Research Excellence in Ear and Hearing Health of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children (CRE_ICHEAR), whose mission is to close the gap in educational and social disadvantage associated with the high prevalence of OM and hearing loss in Australian Indigenous children.

Within this CRE, our team's primary activities focus on prevention (healthy environment, community empowerment), capacity building, pathogenesis, vaccine trials and a systematic review. We are establishing an urban Aboriginal ear health program to determine prevalence of disease, optimal diagnostic methods in young children and key risk factors; to undertake qualitative research to understand impact of OM on children and families and barriers to accessing care; and to investigate language and communication skills in an urban setting, with a view to developing and evaluating culturally responsive speech pathology services.

We are also:

investigating the pathogenesis of OM and the development and evaluation of novel interventions
looking at the microbiome and OM
conducting a data linkage study of OM and related surgical procedures
investigating the bacteria and viruses that cause ear disease and how our immune system fights them in order to develop new therapies, including vaccines
establishing an 'urban ear health audit' in the metropolitan area and working with local Aboriginal organisations to investigate community barriers to delivering ear health initiatives
examining the impact of OM on later child development in collaboration with the Raine Study cohort
developing new telehealth approaches to improve access to ear and hearing healthcare
undertaking a suite of Cochrane reviews to examine the global effectiveness of treatments for chronic suppurative OM (CSOM).

The Ear Health team has close links with relevant stakeholders. Together with Western Australian Country Health Services, Rural Health West, Child and Adolescent Health Service, Aboriginal Health Council of WA, Department of Health - Aboriginal Affairs and the WA Primary Health Alliance, the Ear Health team developed the WA Child Ear Health Strategy. We are currently participating in working groups to propose guidelines for the implementation of this strategy.

The Ear Health team also works alongside the Bacterial Respiratory Infectious Disease Group (BRIDG). This team has a major focus on ear and lung disease involving Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae.