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Public Health Research and Practice Public Health Research and Practice Society
The peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Putting age-related hearing loss on the public health agenda in Australia

Kim Kiely A B C * and Kaarin Anstey A B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Ageing Futures Institute, UNSW, Sydney, Australia

B School of Psychology, UNSW, Sydney, Australia

C Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), Sydney, NSW

* Correspondence to: k.kiely@unsw.edu.au

Public Health Research and Practice 31, e3152125 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3152125
Published: 2 December 2021

2021 © Kiely et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.

Abstract

Hearing loss is one of the most common long-term health conditions associated with ageing, and a considerable contributor to Australia’s late-life disability burden. Acquired hearing loss in adulthood presents significant challenges for the social, physical, mental and cognitive health of many Australians. These wide-ranging individual and societal impacts have been highlighted by a number of high-profile national inquiries into Australia’s hearing health during the past decade. Yet hearing loss remains poorly recognised and is undertreated in many communities. In this perspective article we argue that effective public health measures such as limiting occupational and recreational exposure to hazardous noise and ototoxic chemicals, promoting hearing health behaviours, early detection, improved access to hearing health services, and urban design, are all critical to mitigating these adverse outcomes. We also make the case for updated epidemiological data about hearing loss among older Australians.