Community & First Nations Health

Hearing screening that works in community settings

Sound Scouts is appropriate for use in remote and regional communities. The Automatic Audiometer offers a language independent test option and the Triple Factor Hearing Screener identifies middle ear, inner ear and listening difficulties in noise.

Community health workers can administer the test without the need for a clinician or specialist audiology equipment.

Contact Sound Scouts for more information

The Challenge

The access gap in community hearing health

Challenge 1

Access to audiology services in regional and remote communities is limited

Wait lists of months or years, and fly-in-fly-out clinicians, cannot sustain a successful community hearing programme.

Challenge 2

Standard tests don't always tell the whole story

The Triple Factor Hearing Screener identifies middle ear, inner ear and listening in noise issues. Language-free testing is offered via the Automatic Audiometer.

Challenge 3

Otitis media rates in First Nations children are among the highest in the world

Chronic ear disease requires frequent, low-barrier monitoring across a community.

The Triple Factor Hearing Screener (TFHS) and Automatic Audiometer (AA) can be administered by community health workers using a touchscreen device and headphones without specialist hearing equipment. SSIMPL enables tracking of results across community visits to support identification of individuals who need further assessment.

How it works

Tools built for community settings

Hearing Screener

Sound Scouts App

Administered by community health workers. Operates anywhere a touchscreen device works. Offline functionality available.

Appropriate from age 4+
TFHS can identify conductive hearing loss— a common hearing issue in remote communities
Instant results
Triple Factor Hearing Screener works on iOS, Android, and Windows
Automatic Audiometer works on iOS

Management Platform

SSIMPL

Track results across the community over time.

Add patients individually or in bulk
Results stored against each individual
Data exportable for health authority reporting

Language-Free APD Test

APD Suite — LiSN-U

LiSN-U is a language-free auditory processing test — suitable for clients from many language backgrounds.

Uses nonsense syllables — no vocabulary or English required
Age 6 and over
Administered by a clinician

Where spatial processing disorder is diagnosed via the APD Suite, your clinician may discuss Soundiverse — an auditory training program currently in beta. Learn more about Soundiverse →

Talk to the Sound Scouts team

We work with community health organisations across Australia. Contact us to discuss your setting.

Talk to the team

Validated in community settings

Research that reflects the community

Published research — First Nations communities

"Detection of hearing problems in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: a comparison between clinician-administered and self-administered hearing tests." 88% agreement between the Sound Scouts Automatic Audiometer and manual audiometry. (International Journal of Audiology, 2020)

About LiSN-U

LiSN-U was developed at Macquarie University. Its phonemes are drawn from languages common to most communities worldwide, making it suitable for use with many non-English speaking populations.