It is important to get your hearing tested regularly, especially as you reach midlife and later life as hearing tends to deteriorate with age. It is also important to get your hearing tested regularly if you are exposed to loud sounds at work or in your personal life (including listening to music over headphones). The Australian Government’s National Acoustic Laboratories has a “Know Your Noise” online resource which includes a Noise Risk Calculator which assesses your risk of hearing damage from noise exposure.
Community awareness-raising hearing screening services can be found online, in self-serve kiosks, in shopping centres, and at community awareness events.
While useful as community awareness activity, the results from hearing screening can be unreliable due to a range of factors including distractions, background noise levels, the skill of any screener present, and the quality of the equipment used.
If potential hearing loss is detected during hearing screening, further hearing tests are needed to diagnose the degree of any hearing loss and determine if any treatment is needed (including hearing aids).
When choosing where to go for a hearing test, which is also known as an audiological assessment, you should ask if the hearing service practitioner conducting your tests:
You can ask the hearing service practitioner for:
If the hearing service practitioner recommends treatment of your hearing aid, for example with hearing aids, ask for written information which includes:
Before deciding on whether or not to proceed with treatment you can:
Clinically certified hearing service allied health professionals (audiologists or audiometrists) are people who are:
You can confirm if someone is an Audiology Australia Accredited Audiologist on their online register.
You can also confirm someone’s clinical certification by asking for a copy of their certificate, and if you have concerns about its authenticity, you can contact the Ethics Officer at [email protected] or (03) 9940 3911.
The Ethics Officer is available to talk through and questions or concerns you may have about hearing services. The Ethics Officer can also provide you with information about how to make a complaint and guide you through the process.
You can contact the Ethics Officer at [email protected] or (03) 9940 3911.
The preferred, and most expedient, methods of contact for the Ethics Officer are phone and email. However, if you do not have access to a phone and/or email you can write to the Ethics Officer at:
Ethics Officer
PO Box 370
Monbulk
Victoria 3793
Ethics Review Committee, 2020. How are hearing service practitioners regulated? Information for public.
Audiology Australia, Australian College of Audiology, and Hearing Aid Audiology Society of Australia, 2021. Code of Conduct for audiologists and audiometrists.
Audiology Australia, 2013. Professional Practice Standards Part B Clinical Standards.
Audiology Australia, Australian College of Audiology, and Hearing Aid Audiology Society of Australia, 2016. Scope of Practice for audiologist and audiometrists.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2017. Hearing aids and devices- information to help make an informed choice.