The Hon Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care
The Australian Government today announced the first of two grant opportunities for research into developing and delivering improved hearing health support services, which will better assist one in six Australians who are experiencing some form of hearing impairment.
Federal Regional Health Minister, Dr David Gillespie MP announced that applications are now open for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Targeted Call for Research on Hearing Health: evidence-based support services.
"The Federal Government wants to ensure that all Australians with hearing loss, wherever they live, can get top-quality assistance to help them get the best out of their lives," Dr Gillespie said.
"This call seeks to support research that develops an evidence base for future policies, interventions and initiatives to support the Hearing Services Program."
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt said the NHMRC funds research where Australia's highest-performing health and medical researchers set out to solve the health problems they see in their community to help improve the lives of their fellow Australians.
"NHMRC's Targeted Calls for Research are one-time requests for grant applications to address a specific health issue where there is a significant research knowledge gap or unmet need," Minister Hunt said.
Dr Gillespie said the funding was part of the Australian Government's $21.2 million investment to support activities under the Roadmap for Hearing Health, developed by the Hearing Health Sector Committee, published in February 2019.
The NHMRC is managing $7.3 million in grant funding for hearing research under this measure; the total funding available under the call for research applications announced today is $4 million.
The Targeted Call for Research on Hearing Health will:
- Inform development and delivery of hearing health services in the future.
- Improve the evidence base for health seeking behaviour on hearing health, especially in vulnerable populations.
- Assure providers and consumers that hearing program support services are based on the best available evidence to adapt to client needs and technology changes.
A subsequent Targeted Call for Research grant opportunity on hearing health will occur in 2022 as part of this Budget measure. All other relevant information is available on the NHMRC website and GrantConnect.
