Ear Health

The Ear Health team's mission is to understand the causes of childhood hearing loss, including otitis media or OM (a 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. We align our work with the team’s pillars: engagement, research, capacity building, service delivery, health promotion, and knowledge translation.

Our target group is all children with ear and hearing disorders, with a particular focus on Aboriginal children living in the Perth metropolitan area.

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.   

Our key research projects focus on:

• Establishing the Djaalinj Waakinj Aboriginal ear health program which is examining the prevalence of OM and hearing loss in Aboriginal children livening in Perth
• Conducting clinical trials of interventions to improve the treatment of OM in children via the Ear Portal research pathway established by our team at Perth Children’s Hospital
• Examining the prevalence of OM and its impact on later child development in collaboration with the Raine Study cohort. https://rainestudy.org.au/information-for-researchers/special-interest-groups/senses/
• Maintaining and updating a suite of Cochrane systematic reviews examining the most effective treatments for chronic suppurative otitis media. View the full Cochrane Special Collection here: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/collections/doi/SC000049/full
• Developing new telehealth approaches to improve access to ear and hearing healthcare.
• Developing guidelines for the treatment and management of OM in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, available here: https://otitismediaguidelines.com/
• Implementation of the WA Child Ear Health Strategy
• Collaborating with the WA Country Health Service, Bega Garnbirringu Health Service and Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research on innovative pilot projects involving ear health screening when children attend for routine immunisations or child health checks.

We also work closely with other teams including the Bacterial Respiratory Infectious Disease Group (BRIDG) and Vaccine Trials Group.

Team Highlights

• Expanded the Djaalinj Waakinj (Listening and Hearing) Ear Portal, to include more than 200 families with young Aboriginal children living in urban areas. The team released initial findings showing that over 50% of Aboriginal children in the study had ear disease by 6 months of age.
• Launched the 2020 Otitis Media Guidelines in partnership with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre for Research Excellence for Ear and Hearing Health, available online or as the downloadable “Otitis Media Guidelines” mobile application (OMApp).
• Partnering with West Coast Eagles player Liam Ryan and his family, to promote ear health awareness in the community, for the Djaalinj Waakinj and Ear Portal projects.
• Partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO) and researchers from the University of Oxford, to collate the global literature on seven key ear disease topics to identify potential future treatments for ear disease.
• Continue to guide the implementation of the WA Child Ear Health Strategy. This state-wide, whole of Government approach to combat OM in Aboriginal children, led by Telethon Kids researchers with WA Country Health and Child and Adolescent Health Services, Aboriginal Health Council of WA and WA Primary Healthy Alliance with Peter Richmond Chair, Deborah Lehmann, Chris Brennan-Jones and Victoria Stroud committee members.
• The team was involved in the organising of the OMOZ 2021 Conference held in Perth. Several members of the team presented results of projects.
• A/Prof Chris Brennan-Jones was awarded a WA Health Emerging Leader Fellowship for the project Healthy Ears for Healthier Lives: Tackling ear disease and preventable hearing loss in Indigenous Children.
• Aboriginal Research Officer Danielle Hedland was a finalist in Premier’s Science Awards 2021 – Aboriginal Student in STEM
• Developed a video to help families understand what the Koorlungkas yarning projectis about and enhance awareness about language and communication with young children.
• We have been part of the national Centre of Research Excellence in Ear and Hearing Health of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children(CRE_ICHEAR, A/Prof Lehmann and A/Prof Richmond are Chief Investigators), 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.
• We are members of the WHO World Hearing Forum