About Hearing
The following pages provide you with additional information on hearing and hearing loss. All of the pages are available as factsheets.
How do we hear?
To understand how you hear, it is useful to know more about the structure of your ear. This page details the anatomy or structure of the ear and how we hear.
Hearing loss and deafness
This page describes the types of hearing loss and how these different types of hearing loss may affect you.
How is my hearing tested?
Your hearing can be tested in a number of ways, this page explains how your hearing is tested and what to expect at your hearing test.
Communication for people affected by hearing loss
This page describes how you can help yourself and other people with hearing loss by using different strategies for better communication and understanding.
Face mask tips for people with hearing loss
This factsheet provides some useful tips to make the process of wearing, and communicating while wearing, a face mask more comfortable for people with hearing loss.
Research into hearing loss
Research into hearing, hearing loss and hearing devices occurs around the world. This page provides information on the ways that the Hearing Services Program supports research into hearing and hearing loss in Australia.
What to expect from your hearing device
Using a hearing device for the first time may feel unusual and it is likely you will have a lot of questions about how to use and look after it. This document provides you with some general information on what to expect, including how to adjust to the new sounds you will hear as well as how to look after your hearing device.
Telecoils and hearing loops
Telecoils are a useful but often under-used feature of many hearing devices. Hearing loops are used in conjunction with a telecoil to help you hear better in challenging listening situations. Read on to find out more.
Preventing hearing loss
Hearing loss is a natural part of the ageing process. However once you have lost your hearing, it won’t recover. This page describes some of the things you can do to protect your hearing.
Know Your Noise
Know Your Noise is a website recently launched by the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) and partially funded by the Australian Government Department of Health. Know Your Noise offers a noise risk calculator, where people can measure the ‘dose’ of noise they have been exposed to after attending a noisy event, or from noise in their workplace. The website also provides an online hearing test tool which assesses how well the user can hear in a noisy background.