More than 50% of Indigenous children with “high needs” in the Northern Territory have hearing loss, a report has found.
The report, released on Thursday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), found hearing loss in 55% of 1,764 children who received services in 2013-14.
Middle-ear infections were also common among the children and young people who received services, the report found.
“Of those who received an audiology or ear, nose and throat (ENT) service in 2013-14, 67% were diagnosed with at least one type of middle-ear condition, an increase from 61% in 2012-13,” it said.
The report is a snapshot of the federal government’s ear and hearing outreach services in the NT from July 2012 to June 2014.
The services are targeted at “high needs” children, and the results were not representative of the total NT Indigenous population under 21, the AIHW said.
The survey found hearing health improved for many children who received two or more consultations with doctors.
“Twenty-six percent regained normal hearing in both ears at their last check, and 15% had their hearing loss improve so that only one ear was affected, not both,” an AIHW spokeswoman, Fadwa Al-Yaman, said.