New Resources help people with hearing loss

Not for profit hearing advocacy organisation Soundfair and the Deafness Foundation have launched a new suite of hearing health information resources. Research has shown it takes on average ten years for people to access help for their hearing loss. With funding from the Deafness Foundation, the suite of resources has been developed by Soundfair in consultation with GPs and co-designed by people with hearing loss "Hearing loss can significantly reduce the quality of life and quality of healthcare that people receive," said Deafness Foundation Vice President Professor Colette McKay. "This project is a great step towards providing GPs and consumers with the resources they need to be aware of the impact of hearing loss on their communications and to know how they can best seek help for their hearing loss."

Soundfair's Dr Jessica Vitkovic said: "We're proud to have facilitated the co-design of these information resources and thank all our participants for their input. It's important that the individual's journey from hearing loss awareness to accessing healthcare is supported and that opportunities for support are not missed." The resources are available from the Soundfair Website and cover 14 topics which include explaining the causes and impacts of hearing loss, communication strategies, where to get a hearing check and questions to ask and funding support.

If you cannot access the resources online, ask your doctor to download and print them for you or phone Soundfair on 1300-242-842 or visit https://soundfair.org.au/