With funding from GlaxoSmith Kline, investigators from within ANU, Dr Anthony Hogan (Sociology); Dr Vas Yieng (NCEPH); Dr Lyndall Strazdins (NCEPH) will conduct a study concerned with the longer term social wellbeing of children with chronic ear infections (ottis media).

Concerns exist that childhood hearing loss associated with ottis media has negative developmental impacts  which in turn contributes to the marginalisation of these children. For example, 90% of aboriginals in custody in the Northern Territory have a significant hearing loss resulting from ottis media. In this study we will conduct a comprehensive, longitudinal analysis of the educational and social impacts of ear infections on children. The study will use the unique dataset, the Growing Up in Australia (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, LSAC) which measures many aspects of child welfare including family relationships, health and wellbeing of parents and children. The dataset contains health and social information on two cohorts of children (0 – 1 years and 4 -5 years of age in 2004. The wellbeing of these children has subsequently been monitored over the past six years (Wave 1 2004; Wave 2 2006; Wave 3 2008; Wave 4 2010). There is data on approximately 10,000 children in the dataset. Our previous study on the baseline LSAC 2004 reported 2% prevalence of children with hearing problems. Preliminary analysis of the Wave 1 (4-5 year old, 2004 data set) found 7.9% of the sample (394 children) reporting an ear infection at the time of the survey.  This study is timely and the findings will provide important evidence on the need for specific early intervention services for children with ear infections and related hearing impairments in the years to come.