Demographics of Persons under the age of 21 years with Hearing Aids

Figure 6. Indigenous children as a proportion of the total aided children in each state/territory
Hearing Loss Distribution
Hearing loss is described according to the Three-Frequency-Average hearing loss (3FAHL) in the
better ear, that is, the average of hearing thresholds at 500 Hz, 1000 Hz and 2000Hz in the betterhearing
ear in dBHL. Prior to 2011 the 3FAHL groupings were: 0-30dBHL, 31-60dBHL; 61-90dBHL and
91+dBHL. In 2011 the hearing loss groupings were changed to reflect the fact that newborn hearing
screening aims to detect losses of moderate or greater degree: 0 – 40 dBHL, 41 – 60 dBHL; 61 – 90
dBHL and 91+dBHL. National data have been presented using both old and new hearing loss
categories in order to facilitate comparison with previous years’ data.
The majority of aided young persons under 21 years of age have a hearing loss of moderate or lesser
degree in the better ear. Figure 6, Tables 14 and 15 show the hearing loss distribution according to
the most recently-recorded 3FAHL in the better ear according to the new hearing loss categories;
Tables 16 and 17 show the same data according to the hearing loss categories used in previous years,
to enable comparison with past data.
©Australian Hearing 2012 Page 15 of 33