A Hearing Report from Australia

By King Chung and Mariah Cheyney

This article is a part of the September/October 2017, Volume 29, Volume 5, Audiology Today issue.

Australia is the sixth largest country in the world by land mass, but is the 53^rd largest by population. The majority of Australians reside in the coastal borders of the country, leaving the midland or “outback” with far fewer. Australia’s population contains a large number of settlers from various countries as well as the first-nations peoples, i.e., Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, who arrived at the mainland and islands more than 50,000 years ago. The first-nations population take great pride in their unique and vibrant culture. Unlike the general Australian population, their resources are limited, including access to audiological services.

Audiology Educational System

Audiology and audiological education have a relatively long history in Australia, beginning in 1948 with the establishment of the Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories (now the National Acoustic Laboratories and Australian Hearing). This organization was involved in training audiologists in the early years (Upfold, 2008) and continues to be internationally recognized as a premiere research organization. Programs to train master’s level audiologists were established in the late 1970s and since 1999 have been a requirement for professional body membership. Australia has one the highest ratios of audiologists-per-capita in the world, with a smaller number of audiological technicians (audiometrists) also providing hearing aid related and diagnostic services to the community (Goulios and Patuzzi, 2008).

Currently, there are six masters’ programs across Australia. They include Macquarie University, University of Queensland, Flinders University, Melbourne University, La Trobe University, and the University of Western Australia, which offers a joint master/PhD in clinical audiology. Masters’ programs in Australia require graduates to meet a set of clinical competencies and to have completed 250 hours of clinical experience by graduation. There is also a requirement to complete a one-year clinical internship if the graduate wishes to provide services to clients in the large government-funded sector. During this year, interns are prepared for independent clinical practice under the supervision of an experienced audiologist. Once the internship is completed, new graduates are certified either by Audiology Australia or Australian College of Audiology, both are professional organizations representing audiologists in Australia.