As the nation’s largest provider of Government funded hearing services, Australian Hearing is an agency established by the Australian Government that takes care of helping children with hearing problems, especially the ones affected by the series of rubella epidemics and the veterans that suffered in the WWII. As such, Australian Hearing is constituted as a statutory authority under the Australian Hearing Services Act 1991, it is within the Department of Human Services portfolio and reports to the Minister for Human Services.

The focus of the Australian Hearing Service is in two main areas:

• developing a national network of hearing centers and providing hearing health services through these centers;
• doing research on related topics through the National Acoustic Laboratories.

What does the Australian Hearing Service offer? 

The range of services includes hearing assessment, fitting hearing devices and providing counseling and programs for rehabilitation to patients that can’t manage their hearing problems. They employ audiologists that specialize in different areas such as pediatric, adults that have complex rehabilitation needs and outreach services to Aboriginal and clients from Torres Strait Island.

Who is eligible for the services of the Australian Hearing Service?

The Australian Hearing Service works according to the Australian Government Hearing Services Program, which has two streams: the Community Service Obligation (CSO) program and the Voucher program, and any person that is eligible under this program can benefit from the Australian Hearing Service .

Children younger than 26, who are Australian citizens or permanent residents and have hearing problems or diseases are eligible patients of the Australian Hearing Service and they don’t need a voucher. Children with a simple suggestion of a risk of hearing loss, or those that don’t need hearing devices are generally advised to visit another hearing agency. Adults that are older than 26 years and permanent citizens of Australia are eligible under the following conditions:

• People that hold the Pensioner Concession Card;
• Holders of the Gold Repatriation Card from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs;
• Holders of the White Repatriation Card specifying hearing loss, from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs;
• People who have received sickness allowance from Centrelink;
• People connected to a person in one of the above categories;
• Australian Defense Force members;
• Clients referred by the Australian Government-funded rehabilitation service.

Everyone else that doesn’t fall under any of these categories, should apply for a voucher, except for the following categories of people that also can benefit from the Australian Hearing Service:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that are over 50 years old;
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who participate in the Program for Remote Jobs and Communities;
• An adult client who is eligible under the Voucher program and has a severe hearing loss or hearing loss and severe communication problems;
• A person who is eligible for the Voucher program and lives in any remote area of Australia.