2022 NHMRC ideas grant advancing NAL innovation

Children born in Australia are tested to check if they have hearing loss. This newborn screening doesn’t pick up some forms of hearing loss and can’t detect a hearing loss that only appears later in life. This project will create a smartphone app that parents, health professionals, and childcare workers can use to record a child speaking to check if they may have hearing loss. The app will use artificial intelligence to assess whether the child’s speech indicates they may have hearing loss, providing a simple way to ensure all children with hearing loss are diagnosed as soon as possible.  

Grant team: Jessica Monaghan, Padraig Kitterick, Vicky Zhang, Nicky Chong-White, Viji Easwar, Catherine Birman and AIs: Alison King and Jia Wu 

This initiative has been through the Discovery phase as part of NAL’s innovation program and generated traction with childcare workers and parents of young children who we worked with during the Discovery phase. We hope to continue to work with professionals and change-makers to co-design the solution and eventually take it to market.