Ear and hearing health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2024

The 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) allows comparisons of measured and reported hearing loss for the same people. This helps to understand the level of under-reporting of hearing loss among First Nations people (ABS 2020). 

Reported data in this section are for people who reported long-term deafness or hearing loss in one or both ears.

In 2018–19, of the 290,400 First Nations people aged 7 and over with measured hearing loss, 79% (228,500 people) did not report long-term hearing loss.

Those with more severe measured hearing loss were more likely to report that they had long-term hearing loss:

• among those assessed as having moderate, severe or profound hearing loss, almost half (47%) reported having long-term hearing loss
• among those assessed as having mild hearing loss, 18% reported having long-term hearing loss
• among those with hearing loss in only one ear, 13% reported long-term hearing loss.

The proportion of First Nations people with measured hearing loss who also reported long-term hearing loss was lower in remote areas (16%) than in non-remote areas (23%), even though the proportion with more severe hearing loss (moderate, severe or profound) was greater in remote areas.

Of all First Nations people aged 7 and over, the proportion who had measured hearing loss and also reported long-term hearing loss increased with age from 2% among children aged 7–14 to 28% among people aged 55 and over (Figure PREVALENCE 12). This is likely to be due to the greater proportion of people aged 55 and over assessed as having severe/profound hearing loss.