The issues faced by Aboriginal adults with hearing loss are not only related to their current hearing problems but also to the educational and social legacy of their past hearing loss.

We read a lot in the papers about low educational outcomes and poor employment outcomes for Aboriginal children.

Hearing loss is a massive contributor to Aboriginal disadvantage that is not generally well recognised or addressed.

Schools are often more aware of hearing loss. But in the employment sector there is almost no awareness that hearing loss contributes to communication problems in the workplace.

Hearing Loss in the Workplace

Hearing loss is one of the most common obstacles to communication for non Aboriginal workers and up to 10% of workers may be affected. It is even more of a problem for Aboriginal workers, and as many as 60% of remote Aboriginal workers may have a hearing loss.

Reasons for adult hearing loss

The reason so many Aboriginal adults have a hearing loss is because they have experienced a lot of middle ear disease (Otitis Media) during childhood. This childhood ear disease often leaves a legacy of adult hearing loss.

The fact that Aboriginal people experience hearing loss so early in life means that their later workplace problems are the result of the combination of limited language and literacy skills contributed to by past hearing loss, as well as listening problems because of current hearing loss. This means that the functional listening problems of an Aboriginal person with hearing loss will often be greater than those experienced by a non Aboriginal worker with a similar level of noise induced hearing loss that they acquired after childhood.

Research into adult hearing loss

Dr Damien Howard has spent the past 15 years working with hearing loss in Northern Territory communities. In one study conducted in a remote community he looked at the prevalence of hearing loss among a group of Aboriginal workers.

He found that 60% of workers had some hearing loss that had an impact on communication and performance in their workplace. The study found that overall workers with hearing loss:

had lower performance at work
experienced more difficulties following verbal instructions
had lower proficiency in oral English in being able to understand and follow verbal instructions
were slower than others in learning on the job
were more shy and reticient than other workers
were often more defensive if their work was corrected.

Workers with hearing loss had more social and emotional difficulties with higher levels of frustration
and more worry about performance.

When supervisors discussed their relationship with workers it was the ones with hearing problems that they had the most difficulty in getting to know and establishing a positive workplace relationship.

In this research the workers who were identified as not getting on well with their peers all had hearing loss.