Professor Greg Leigh AO has been honoured with Hearing Australia’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of 40-plus years spent furthering hearing research and support in Australia.

The contribution Hearing Australia and the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) have made to the nation’s hearing health was on full display at the Hearing Hub recently, serving as a powerful reminder of the importance of collaboration with our partners to improve the lives of people with hearing loss.

Professor of Linguistics Catherine McMahon and her team from the Hear Centre at Macquarie University have been working with TAFE NSW and Indigenous Allied Health Australia on a project that aims to reduce the long-term impacts of middle ear disease in Aboriginal children.

Listen to the SBS Australia News story.

Hearing Australia has launched its Action Plan for Improving Ear Health and Hearing Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children. The organisation is committed to working with First Nations peoples and communities to halve the rate of hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children by 2029.

Dr Jim Hungerford will hand over the baton of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) after 12 years at the helm. After engaging in a rigorous, externally-run selection process, the Board and management have appointed Dr Aleisha Davis to the role of CEO, effective from 20 January 2023.

To celebrate the end of a successful year, the Australian Hearing Hub hosted an end-of-year celebration on 8 December. The event provided the opportunity for senior leaders from each AHH member organisation to share the highlights of 2022 and what to look forward to in 2023 and beyond.

This full day workshop provided over 100 ITODs with a chance to learn about the services, research and resources that are available from Australian Hearing Hub member organisations.

The workplace is one of the most common sources of noise-induced hearing loss. During National Safe Work Month, held every year in October, Hearing Australia urged workers to stay on top of their hearing health and released a new fact sheet on protecting your hearing at work.

We would like to thank those who joined us for our Soundbites Webinar Series this year to learn all about the latest hearing research from NAL, direct from leading researchers at NAL. We look forward to seeing you in 2023 for our next Soundbites Webinar Series!

To celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Audiology Committee of International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders, moderated two talks and a panel discussion.

A pilot study at NAL sets the stage for a repeatable and validated way to test how well people with hearing loss can understand speech on different videoconferencing technologies and how well different technologies, such as hearing aids, improve that experience.

It was fantastic to see new and old faces at our Networking Night for alumni and invitees of Hear For You and The Shepherd Centre last Friday at Canva Space! It’s not often that we, as adults, are able to get together and meet others who have grown up in the mainstream community as a deaf/hard of hearing/hearing impaired person.