Ear conditions or hearing loss among Deadly Ears program participants

  • 13%

    (1,066) of First Nations children aged 0–14 in the eligible population accessed a Deadly Ears ENT clinic and were found to have an ear condition between 2022 and 2024.

  • 16%

    (1,360) of First Nations children aged 0–14 in the eligible population accessed a Deadly Ears audiology service and were found to have hearing loss between 2022 and 2024.

Information from service providers can provide insights into the level of ear conditions or hearing loss in the population.    

The Queensland Government set up the Deadly Ears Program to reduce the high rates of middle ear disease and hearing loss among First Nations children in Queensland by providing a range of frontline services, such as ear, nose and throat (ENT) clinics and audiology, speech pathology and occupational therapy services.

About the data

In 2025, the Deadly Ears Program had clinical services in the following areas:

  • Thursday Island
  • the Northern Peninsula Area
  • Palm Island
  • Mornington Island
  • Doomadgee
  • Normanton
  • Mt Isa
  • Woorabinda
  • Cherbourg. 

Information about the number of services provided by the Deadly Ears Program can be used to estimate the level of ear conditions or hearing loss among the population of First Nations children aged 0–14 covered by these areas, that is, the ‘eligible population’. 

This section reports information derived from the Deadly Ears data collection. Data are available from 2007 to 2023. Whether a child has a middle ear related condition is diagnosed by an ENT specialist, while whether a child has hearing loss is diagnosed by an audiologist.  

Between 2022 and 2024, for First Nations children in the eligible population aged 0–14 who attended a Deadly Ears audiology service, 12.8% (1,066 children) were found to have an ear condition and 16.3% (1,360 children) were found to have hearing loss. Hearing loss was found to be higher than ear disease in each of the age groups, with hearing loss peaking at 19.7% (556 children) in the 5–9 age group and ear disease peaking at 16.7% (487 children) in the 0–4 age group (Table 1.2b) (Figure PREVALENCE 9).

PREVALENCE 9: Percentage of children with ear conditions and hearing loss in the Deadly Ears program, by age group, 2022–24



Source: AIHW analysis of Deadly Ears Program data collection; AIHW population modelling using ABS population estimates and projections.

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