'We know the lack of services': Service lead's perspective of enablers and barriers to hearing assessment for children in metropolitan, regional and rural Australia: A qualitative study

Objective: To explore potential enablers and barriers to accessing paediatric hearing assessment from the perspective of Australian service leads, extending previous studies on this topic from the perspectives of two other stakeholder groups - parents and speech pathologists.

Design: This qualitative study, expanding upon previous mixed-methods studies, applied a pragmatism paradigm.

Setting: The study was undertaken online via Zoom and included participants who were service leads of organisations that offer hearing assessment in metropolitan, regional, rural and remote parts of Australia.

Participants: Eight Australian service leads participated in semi-structured interviews.

Results: Barriers identified were similar to barriers in previous studies. Three main themes were identified. First, children with hearing loss in Australia are well identified at birth. The second theme focused on the reduced and inconsistent hearing assessment services available after this age. Finally, service leads discussed the importance of embracing technology to solve service access difficulties.

Conclusion: Consultation with key stakeholders, to consider the needs of different communities within Australia, will be crucial when identifying new service delivery options.