With one in three Australians over the age of 65 living with hearing loss, World Hearing Day is an important opportunity to draw attention to the importance of taking care of your hearing and getting help early.

Held on 3 March, this year we joined with other hearing organisations, researchers, deafness advocates and people with hearing loss at the Australian Hearing Hub to promote ear and hearing care at a special World Hearing Day event.

The Australian Hearing Hub is situated on the Macquarie University campus and brings together organisations dedicated to research, education, innovation and practice to transform outcomes for people with hearing loss. The Hub hosts clinics and services—including a NextSense centre—alongside shared research facilities.

The theme of this year’s World Hearing Day was ‘Changing Mindsets: Empower yourself to make ear and hearing care a reality for all,’ and the event welcomed people living with hearing loss to learn about hearing health and services, participate in a free hearing screening test, and share their stories.

Our client Elizabeth, a cochlear implant recipient, joined a panel discussion of people with age-related hearing loss. The panelists shared their stories of the challenges they have faced with losing their hearing, the technology that is helping them, and the importance of their support networks.

Elizabeth urged those in the audience to investigate their options sooner rather than later. She said she didn’t realise until after her implants how much stress she was under by having to manage in a hearing world largely through lip reading. And she now finds it incredible to be able to access high pitched sounds she had just never heard, like the Blue Wrens singing in her garden.

The second panel discussion of the day explored the critical role of advocacy and the important role we play in educating policymakers in Australia.

NextSense Chief Executive Chris Rehn says the event showcased the power of collaboration. ‘Events like this one demonstrate the very real benefits of collaboration to help redefine what’s possible for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and continue to cement Australia as a world leader in outcomes for people with hearing loss,’ he says.​