The music playing is Sundays by Leah Flanagan

 

Written by Rachael Saywell and illustrated by her son Tymunna Clements-Saywell "Hear This" is a children's book that tells the tale of Dana the dinosaur, Kane the kangaroo, Allie the alligator and Paddy the penguin who have their hearing tests at school. Download a copy>>

 

Welcome

What is hearing loss?

Hearing loss is very widespread in Aboriginal communities because of middle ear disease. Children experience middle ear disease in Aboriginal communities earlier, longer, and more often. It's been estimated that while in the non Aboriginal community people experience ear disease for an average of three months during their childhood, in Aboriginal children, that average is 2.5 years, so there's a massive difference in the amount of time that children experience ear disease.

Chronic ear disease leaves many Aboriginal people with long term permanent hearing loss and auditory processing problems.

This can have a wide ranging effect on education and training, employment and family and social relationships.

How do I find out more?

This website contains resources and information for employers, educators, trainers and families. In the Media Resources section you will find audio and video clips of interviews with people experiencing hearing problems. There are also scripts for radio that can be used in media workshops and for on-air programming.

Use of the word 'Aboriginal'

This site was developed in the Northern Territory of Australia where many Aboriginal people prefer to be referred to as ‘Aboriginal’ rather than ‘Indigenous’. For that reason Aboriginal is the term that has been used.

However, the information that is presented is also very relevant to many Torres Strait Islanders, Pacific Islanders and Maori, as well as many non Indigenous people in Australia.

Anyone who has had a history of chronic middle ear disease or auditory processing problems may find this information useful. This also includes disadvantaged populations in developing nations where there is a high incidence of middle ear disease.

About the website

The development of this resource was made possible with funding from the Northern Territory Government Department of Education and Training through the Australians Working Together Grants Program 2008.

The information on this website is based on the work of Dr Damien Howard who worked in collaboration with the Human Services Training and Advisory Council of the Northern Territory. More information and resources are available from Dr Howard's website www.eartroubles.com.

The website was designed and developed by Leonie Molloy of Redeye Media. Illustrations by Kristy Day.

Copyright

Contact Dr Damien Howard (email) for permission to use text, video or images from this website. All content is copyright protected.