Ear and hearing health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2025

Australian Eye and Ear Health Survey (AEEHS)

The AEEHS was conducted between August 2022 and March 2025 with results published on 9 October 2025. Funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and led by the Westmead Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney.

The survey recruited a total of 4,519 participants for the eye survey component, of whom 617 (13.6%) were Indigenous and 3,902 (86.4%) were non-Indigenous. Living at 30 randomly selected sites across the six states and two territories, determined using stratified multi-stage random cluster sampling to select recruitment sites target population of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aged 50 years and older. 

Data adjusted for age are available for comparisons between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participant responses. Population estimates have not been calculated so AEEHS results are only representative of the sample selected. 

Census of Population and Housing (Census)

The Census of Population and Housing (Census) is Australia’s largest statistical collection. It is undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) every five years. Census data tells us about the economic, social and cultural make-up of the country. The latest Census was in 2021. 

The Census uses the standard Indigenous status question and it is asked for each household member. The Census form may be completed by one household member on behalf of others.

The processing of information from Census forms is now mostly automated. Quality assurance procedures are used during Census processing to ensure processing errors are minimised. 

Sample checking is undertaken during coding operations, and corrections are made where necessary. When completing their Census form, some people do not answer all the questions that apply to them. In these instances, a ‘not stated’ code is allocated during processing, with the exception of non-response to age, sex, marital status and place of usual residence. Other Census data issues relate to the accuracy of the Census count itself, for example, whether people are counted more than once, or not at all. The ABS Post Census Review (previously called the Post Enumeration Survey) is run shortly after the Census to assess the completeness of the Census count. 

The ABS publish population estimates and projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people every 5 years following each Census. There is usually a substantial lag (approximately 3 years) between each Census and the release of updated estimates and projections. First Nations population estimates for the actual Census year are available much earlier. Preliminary estimates for 30 June 2021 (based on the 2021 Census) were released in September 2022 and were revised in August 2023. Time series estimates based on the 2021 Census will not be available until 2024. 

More information about the 2021 Census is available at: Guide to Census data

Deadly Ears Program data collection

The Deadly Ears Program was established by the Queensland Government to address the high rates of chronic middle ear disease and conductive hearing loss among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Queensland. The data used in this report are gathered by staff employed by the Deadly Ears Program. The child’s middle ear status is diagnosed by an ENT specialist and the child’s hearing status is diagnosed by an audiologist. 

The Deadly Ears data collection contains information on ENT clinic, audiology assessment and ENT surgery services from 2007 onwards. 

More information: Queensland’s Deadly Ears Program—Indigenous children receiving services for ear disease and hearing loss

EarTrain

EarTrain is a training program to identify and treat otitis media and other hearing conditions in First Nations communities. Training can be accessed by primary health-care professionals, including First Nations health workers, nurses and GPs, and is freely available for all primary health-care professionals providing care to First Nations people. It is primarily delivered online through a selection of topics, but also offers in-person practical skills workshops, delivered in communities. EarTrain is funded by the Australian Government and delivered nationally by TAFE New South Wales. 

More information: The Ear Train Program

Hearing Assessment Program – Early Ears (HAPEE)

To combat the high levels of ear disease and associated hearing loss among First Nations children, the Australian Government provides funding for the HAPEE, led by Hearing Australia. The HAPEE provides free ear health checks and diagnostic hearing assessments for First Nations children aged 0–6 who do not yet attend full-time school. 

The HAPEE initially focused on First Nations children in rural and remote areas. Over time, it has expanded to include First Nations children in all areas, with regional and remote areas continuing to be priority locations. 

More information: Hearing Australia

Healthy Ears – Better Hearing, Better Listening (HEBHBL)

The HEBHBL program provides funding for ear health outreach services aimed at First Nations children aged 0–21. The program supports outreach services by a range of health professionals – including medical specialists, GPs, nurses, audiologists and speech pathologists – by coordinating their participation in service delivery, paying for travel and accommodation, backfilling salaried medical staff, and paying allowances for absences from practice. Data provided by Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

Hearing Australia

Hearing Australia data presented in this report are on the characteristics of First Nations people with hearing loss who have been fitted with a hearing device and who were provided services by Hearing Australia through the Hearing Services Program (HSP). 

More information: 

• Hearing Australia
• Hearing services program

Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) data

The Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) is part of Australia’s public health insurance scheme. Through the MBS the Australian Government subsidises the costs of a broad range of health services. The MBS subsidies pay all or part of the costs of these services, dependent on factors such as patient eligibility, the type of service and choices by health practitioners regarding the fees they charge for their services. 

MBS benefits are claimable only for services rendered by an appropriate health practitioner and which are listed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule. Data presented by state and territory and by remoteness area are based on the address information recorded in the patient’s Medicare record. Data presented by remoteness area were classified according to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification. 

More information: Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) data collection

Indigenous identification in Medicare data

People accessing Medicare-funded services may choose to identify to Services Australia as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent. This information is provided on a voluntary basis, and is referred to as the Voluntary Indigenous Identifier (VII). First Nations people are not required to enrol on the VII to access Medicare services, but doing so helps with understanding their use of services and with evaluating and improving health policies and programs (Services Australia, 2023). 

Not all First Nations people have identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent in the VII. As at March 2016, an estimated 65% of the First Nations population had identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin through the VII process. VII coverage varies by age group and state and territory. The incomplete coverage of the VII means that Medicare data generated using the VII enrolments alone do not represent actual Medicare use by all First Nations people. 

The AIHW, in consultation with the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC), has developed a scale-up methodology for estimating use of Medicare services by First Nations people. The methodology compensates for the incompleteness of VII coverage by adjusting VII data based on its level of coverage compared with the total estimated First Nations population.

Before the current edition of this report, the scale-up factors were calculated by the DHAC (see Voluntary Indigenous Identifier (VII) Framework). For this report they have been calculated by the AIHW, however, the estimates obtained are consistent with those produced by the DHAC. 

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) 2018–19 is the largest health survey of First Nations people, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) between July 2018 and April 2019. This survey collected information on a range of topics including long-term health conditions, disability, lifestyle factors, physical harm and use of health services. It collected information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages in non-remote and remote areas of Australia, including discrete First Nations communities. The ABS conducts a periodic detailed health survey of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population only. The survey sample was designed to be representative of First Nations people. Previous surveys were conducted in 2012–13 and 2004–05. Of the 8,707 households included in the final sample, 6,388 (73.4%) were fully or adequately responding households. The sample included 10,579 people from these households. The population benchmark that the survey results were weighted to meet was 814,013. This was the projected First Nations population at 31 December 2018, excluding persons in non-private dwellings. 

More information on the survey methodology and data quality statement are available on the ABS website: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey methodology.

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Public Data Collection

The NDIS Public Data Collection includes information on: 

• population demographics
• plans, support types and plan budgets
• market supply
• goals and outcomes
• NDIA performance. 

The NDIA is responsible for data collection and, in accordance with legislation, policies, guidelines and any specific conditions, for use applicable to that data. As custodians, the NDIA seeks to use NDIS data to advance participant disability support and afford them choice and control. 

More information: Public data sharing

National Health Workforce Data Set (NHWDS)

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), in conjunction with the national health professional registration boards, is responsible for the national registration process for 14 health professions. The data from the annual registration process, together with data from a workforce survey that is voluntarily completed at time of registration, forms the Department of Health’s National Health Workforce Data Set (NHWDS). Data in the NHWDS includes demographic and employment information (for example, labour force status, location of main job, area of practice, work setting) for registered health professionals. In this report, the data on optometrists and ophthalmologists come from the NHWDS as reported by AIHW. Audiology is not part of the register of practitioners or of the National Health Workforce Dataset.

More information: National Health Workforce Dataset

National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD)

Data about hospitalisations were extracted from the AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD), which is a compilation of episode-level records from admitted patient care data collection systems in Australian hospitals in each state and territory. Information on the characteristics, diagnoses and care of admitted patients in public and private hospitals is 5 provided annually to the AIHW by state and territory health departments. Data are based on financial years. 

Data are a count of hospital separations (episodes of admitted patient care, which can be a total hospital stay, or a portion of a hospital stay that begins or ends in a change of type of care) and not of patients. Patients who separated from hospital more than once in the year will be counted more than once in the data set. The number and pattern of hospitalisations can be affected by differing admission practices among the jurisdictions and from year to year, and differing levels and patterns of service delivery. 

NHMD data presented by state and territory and remoteness area in this report are based on the patient’s place of usual residence. There is some under-identification of First Nations people in the NHMD, but NHMD data for all states and territories are considered to have adequate Indigenous identification from 2010–11. 

A data quality statement for the NHMD is available at: Data quality statement: National Hospital Morbidity Database 2014–15

See also:

• Data quality statement: Admitted Patient Care 2017–18
• Data Quality Statements – National Hospital Morbidity Database

National Neonatal Hearing Screening Programs (states and territories) (NNHS)

Neonatal hearing screening is used to detect bilateral moderate to profound permanent congenital hearing impairment in infants, which occurs in 1 to 2 infants per 1,000 births. Each jurisdiction has their own reporting mechanisms and there is no standardised national data collection to support comparable reporting on neonatal screening programs nationally.

National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD)

The National Non-Admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD) is a compilation of episode-level data for emergency department presentations in public hospitals. 

Non-admitted patients are patients who do not go through a hospital’s formal admission process. 

Most patients who receive care in emergency departments are non-admitted patients, and they may subsequently become admitted. NNAPEDCD information includes type of presentation, principal diagnosis, state/ territory and demographic information. 

All state and territory health authorities collect a core set of nationally comparable information on emergency department presentations in public hospitals within their jurisdiction, and the AIHW compiles this data annually. 

The quality of the data reported for Indigenous status in emergency departments has not been formally assessed. In addition, the scope of the NNAPEDCD may not include some emergency services provided in areas where the proportion of First Nations people (compared with other Australians) is higher than average. Therefore, the information on Indigenous status presented in this report should be used with caution. 

The latest data quality statement for the NNAPEDCD is available at: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Metadata Online Registry

See also:
Emergency department care 2019-20 – Appendixes [PDF 700kB]

Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment (NTRAI) Hearing Health Program

The Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment (NTRAI) Hearing Health Program is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health to improve the hearing health of First Nations children and young people aged under 21 in the Northern Territory. The program provides ENT teleology services; outreach audiology services; clinical nurse specialist services; and awareness and education activities. 

More information: Oral health outreach services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the Northern Territory: July 2012 to December 2022

Online Services Report (OSR) collection

The Online Services Report (OSR) collects organisation-level information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander specific health care organisations funded by the Australian Government under its Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme (IAHP), with data provided to the AIHW. 

It includes information about services offered at primary health-care and other organisations and activities undertaken. 

Information on data quality for the OSR collection is available at Online Services report – Interpreting OSR data