Today is World Hearing Day, an opportunity to highlight the importance of early intervention for hearing issues and to share an inspiring story from St George State School, a small but diverse rural school four hours west of Toowoomba.
Located on the traditional lands of the Kamilaroi, Mandandanji, Bigambul, Kooma, and Yulwaalaraay peoples, St George State School is home to around 160 students and 30 staff representing the 3000 strong town.
With 65% of the school’s students from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background, the school recognised the urgent need for early hearing screenings. First Nations children experience some of the highest rates of middle ear infections and hearing loss in the world, often occurring earlier, more frequently, with greater severity, and for longer periods, directly impacting their learning and engagement.
‘For our families there are a lot of costs involved in going to see hearing specialists,’ St George State School Principal, Glenda shared.
The school had several strategies in place to support hard-of-hearing students, but without accurate testing, it was difficult to provide targeted assistance.
One of the departments deaf and hard of hearing advisory visiting teachers realised the potential benefits of connecting St George with the Hearing Pathways team.
Thanks to Hearing Pathways, a collaboration between The Queensland Department of Education and Queensland Health, students were screened using Sound Scouts, a game-based app that detects hearing loss in real-world classroom conditions. The results were eye-opening:
• 126 students tested, with 19 identified with hearing loss, including 14 First Nations students.
• SoundField systems installed to enhance classroom audio clarity.
• Tailored learning strategies introduced to support students’ individual needs.
‘St George is our first piece of work in Darling Downs South West, where we are finding large numbers of students at risk of hearing loss that have never been tested, never been managed and that remote aspect really does add another layer of challenge,’ says speech pathologist Dr Gayle Hemsley.
With more than 500 schools and some 8000 students each year undergoing testing using Sound Scouts, the Hearing Pathways team is having an invaluable impact across the state.
Thank you to the Hearing Pathways team for your incredible work and for supporting our student’s health and wellbeing so that they can realise their full potential inside and beyond the classroom.
#WorldHearingDay
