Victoria leads on childhood hearing

The Victorian Government plays a key role in the detection and treatment of childhood hearing impairment, says Health Minister John Thwaites.

Opening the two-day Hearing Impairment Symposium at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Mr Thwaites said the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program (VIHSP), which receives State Government funding, has led to a high rate of detection and help for children with persistent childhood hearing impairment in their first six months of life.

‘This is one of the few established population-based infant hearing screening programs in the world,’ he said.

‘The VIHSP program, launched in 1992, works closely with Australian Hearing Services, which provides early free hearing aid fitting and maintenance for children with hearing impairment.

‘A key to Victoria’s excellent record in screening and detecting hearing impairment is our excellent universal system of Maternal and Child Health Centres—which are visited by 95 per cent of mothers in the first weeks after the birth of their child.

‘The maternal and child health nurses have a deep commitment to checking the hearing of infants and referring them on for services in the event of an impairment being detected.’

Mr Thwaites said Victoria also had a world-class research system which helped in the detection and treatment of childhood hearing impairments.

The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Victorian Clinical Genetics Services have a key focus on childhood genetics research.

The Bionic Ear Institute and Melbourne University are world-renowned for their pioneering work, especially in the development of cochlear implants.

Mr Thwaites said around 110 children are born each year in Victoria with hearing impairments requiring hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Serious childhood deafness affects up to one in 600 Australian infants.

‘Late detection of childhood deafness usually results in persistent severe language and learning problems for children,’ he said.

‘But due to Victoria’s vigilance in this area, many of these problems are detected and treated before they can impact on a child’s future. Ongoing research and services will further improve this work,’ Mr Thwaites said.