Prevention Innovation
Our vision is that the pace, scope and versatility of children’s population research steps up to understand how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed and what societies can do to keep it on track.
We seek faster solutions to today’s diverse childhood problems such as hearing, language and learning problems, obesity and other childhood precursors of diseases of ageing. We seek better health and wellbeing, both for our children now and for the adults they will become.
We innovate via:
- Flexible, multi-use platforms that span cell to society and conception to grave
- Methods to precisely measure multiple health domains within the same population study
- Bringing rigorous trials and observational research together in the same platforms
- Making our datasets available for all researchers
We are closely linked with Generation Victoria (GenV) and the Policy and Equity and Health Services and Economics groups.
More than 12,000 children in Australia have significant hearing loss and on average one child is identified with hearing loss every day. In our largest focus area, our Hearing Research team is working towards better management, prognosis, diagnosis and prevention for all deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
Hearing loss research
Our vision
To optimise the management, diagnosis, prognosis and prevention of hearing loss for all Australian children.
Our research streams
- Australian National Child Hearing Outcomes Registry (ANCHOR): Better care for all. Using data from child hearing services to improve service delivery and answer research questions.
- cCMV induced hearing loss: Better prognosis. Reducing the effects of congenital CMV on child hearing and development.
- Deafness genomics: Better diagnosis. Improving access to genomic testing for personalised medicine and better prognostic information.
- Neonatal hearing loss: Better prevention. Discovering ways to prevent hearing loss in premature and sick newborns.
Find out more on Hearing Loss.
Group Leaders
Team Leaders
Group Members
Our projects
ANCHOR: Australian National Child Hearing Health Outcomes Registry
Building on newborn hearing screening success: towards national standards & data management.
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Australian Childhood Deafness Research – Community Advisory Group
Family engagement is a crucial element in health research as it helps to ensure that research is designed with the needs and perspectives of those with lived experience. Together with families, we have established an Australian Childhood Deafness Research Community Advisory Group, the first of its kind in Australia.
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Child Health CheckPoint
A special one-off physical health assessment offered to the 11-12-year-old children in Growing Up in Australia.
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HearS-cCMV Project
This study is completed. We are working with the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program (VIHSP) to provide additional services to Victorian families.
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Mild Matters Project
This study is complete. Mild Matters is a research project which aims to find out if hearing aids can help babies and young children with bilateral mild hearing loss.
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Otoferlin gene-mediated hearing loss natural history study
Auditory neuropathy is a type of hearing loss that can have a genetic cause. This study aims to gain a better understanding of the natural course of hearing loss caused by changes in the otoferlin gene.
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Screen cCMV Project
Developing a fast and accurate bedside test to detect congenital Cytomegolovirus (cCMV) cost effectively in the first weeks of life.
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VicCHILD
VicCHILD is the Victorian Childhood Hearing Longitudinal Databank. It collects different information from children and their families to create a unique resource for advancing research in hearing loss.
Read more...CHAMP consensus guidelines on managing childhood hearing loss
The Childhood Hearing Australasian Medical Professionals (CHAMP) network is a group of paediatricians, otolaryngologists, geneticists and neurologists who care for children with hearing loss in Australasia. CHAMP’s priority is to establish national consensus guidelines to help clinicians care for these children. The CHAMP guidelines have been translated into resources for parents and audiologists.
- Childhood Hearing Australasian Medical Professionals Network: Consensus guidelines on investigation and clinical management of childhood hearing loss - Wiley Online Library
Victorian Congenital CMV Register
Congenital CMV (cCMV) is the most common infectious and potentially preventable cause of hearing loss and neurodisability, such as cerebral palsy. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and The Royal Children’s Hospital are partnering with the Australasian Congenital CMV Register, funded by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, to create a Victorian register for children born with CMV. This helps to collect national information about outcomes of early diagnosis and potential treatment.
Hearing screening for newborns of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families
The Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program delivers hearing screening to more than 99.5 per cent of newborns in Victoria. This project aims to understand the challenges and barriers faced by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families whose newborns do not pass their hearing screening. It aims to understand the experiences of CALD families whose newborns are referred for formal hearing testing.
Early uptake and use of sign language
Universal newborn hearing screening enables early detection of hearing loss and early referral to speech and language therapy, including sign language. However, data from the Victorian Childhood Hearing Longitudinal Databank shows only a tiny proportion of families use sign to communicate with children with hearing loss. This project aims to explore the factors influencing parental use of sign language to communicate with their children with hearing loss. It is a collaborative project with the University of Melbourne.
CHIC Clinic RCH Portal Project
The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Caring for Hearing Impaired Children (CHIC) Clinic offers paediatric medical and developmental care to children with permanent hearing loss. Families complete a questionnaire before the first appointment to report basic information about the child and family. This helps the clinic doctors focus on what matters most to the family during the appointment. The RCH Portal is a website and mobile app that gives RCH families access to information in the RCH medical record. This project pilots the use of the RCH Portal to help families fill in the pre-clinic CHIC questionnaire, with the aim of streamlining processes and improving patient experience, as well as facilitating research through routine clinical care.
What research questions matter most to families of deaf and hard-of-hearing children?
Child hearing research projects are designed to find answers and solutions to important issues for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Understanding what research questions matter most to parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children is important in deciding what research should be done. Our project involves families of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in shaping our research agenda. It is a collaborative project with Deaf Children Australia.
The journey toward Universal Newborn Hearing Screening in Victoria, Australia
This project will describe the establishment and evolution of infant hearing screening in Victoria over the last three decades. It will involve interviews with clinicians, researchers and academics who have been involved in the program over that time. This project will describe the steps, processes, setbacks and triumphs along the journey of this important public health initiative. It will also describe the evolution of the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program (VIHSP) from the two-tier neonatal risk factor referral and behavioural screening program implemented in 1992 to the universal state-wide screening program of today.
Is there an association between hearing loss and SARS-CoV-2 infection?
Many viruses are linked to the development of both congenital and acquired hearing loss (HL). This study aimed to explore the association between SARS-CoV-2 and HL in adults and neonates via a review of existing studies. Results to date suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may be associated with HL. However, more high-quality large prospective cohort studies are required to better establish and explore this association.
Growth and metabolic risk in the first decade
Obesity affects one in four children and is strongly implicated in adult diseases of ageing, especially heart disease and diabetes. Using the novel CheckPoint data, we are exploring which early growth patterns (measured biennially in Growing Up in Australia) are most damaging to adolescent cardiometabolic health (lipids/inflammation). Ultimately, we hope that better prediction will avoid unnecessary intervention while targeting research and treatment to those children with the most to gain.
New Zealand-Australia Collaboration on Genes, Environment, Nutrition & Obesity (GENO)
Good nutrition begins in early life and lies at the heart of health. Yet Australia and New Zealand face a crisis of overnutrition and malnutrition: too much of the wrong foods, with resulting epidemics of obesity and inflammatory diseases of ageing. This systems biology partnership with the Liggins Institute (the University of Auckland) is building population micronutrient platforms and leading discovery in networks between genes, environment, molecular physiology and health across early- and mid-life.
The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC, Growing Up in Australia)
Designed to examine the impact of Australia’s unique social, economic and cultural environment on the next generation, LSAC is Australia’s largest and only nationally representative children’s longitudinal study. Since 2004, it has collected eight biennial waves of social, economic and physical health data. The dataset is accessible to all researchers, linked with health, education and social datasets and as of 2018, MCRI’s Child Health Checkpoint. Professor Melissa Wake has been its Health Design Leader since its inception.
Provision of an information video prior to an infant’s diagnostic audiological assessment: a randomised controlled trial.
This study seeks to determine whether an informational video for parents/caregivers on infant audiological assessment, in addition to standard care, affects parent/caregiver anxiety, knowledge about the diagnostic process, and the number of diagnostic audiology appointments needed for newborns to reach a diagnosis.
Funding
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- NZ Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE)
- National Centre for Longitudinal Studies
- Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation
- Cure Kids New Zealand
- Foundation for Children
- The Royal Children's Hospital Foundation
- Mercy Hospital for Women
- Healthy Hearing, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
- Deaf Children Australia
Collaborations
- Liggins Institute, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), University of South Australia
- National Centre for Longitudinal Data, Australian Department of Social Services: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Consortium Advisory Group
- Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI)
- Hearing Australia / National Acoustic Laboratories
- Healthy Hearing, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service
- Cerebral Palsy Alliance
Featured publications
- Webb E, Gillespie AN, Poulakis Z, Gartland T, Buttery J, Casalaz D, Daley AJ, Donath S, Gwee A, Jacobs SE, Phuong LK, Pszczola R, Purcell R, Saunders K, Kadambari S, Jones CA, Sung V. Feasibility and acceptability of targeted salivary cytomegalovirus screening through universal newborn hearing screening. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2021.
- Lin JJ, Gillam L, Smith L, Carew P, King A, Ching TYC, Sung V. Mild Matters: Parental Insights Into The Conundrums of Managing mild Congenital Hearing Loss. Accepted July 2021 International Journal of Audiology 2021 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2021.1954248
- Ching, TYC, Saetre-Turner M, Marnane V, Scarinci NA, Chiok C, Tulloch K, Sung V. Audiologists’ perspectives on management of mild bilateral hearing loss in young children. International Journal of Audiology 2021 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2021.1961170
- Sung V, Williams K, Perlow E, Hu, YJ, Ahern, S, Said, JM, Karanatsios, B, Hopper, JL, McNeil, JJ, Donnan, L, Goldfeld, S, Wake, M. Enhancing value and uptake for whole-population cohorts of children and parents: Methods to integrate registries into the Generation Victoria cohort. Children 2021,8,285. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8040285
- Wang J, Quach J, Sung V, Carew P, Wake M. Ear infection trajectories and academic, behavioral and quality-of-life outcomes: A population-based longitudinal study. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. March 23, 2021 - Volume Publish Ahead of Print - Issue -doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000931
- Downie L, Halliday J, Burt R, Lunke S, Lynch E, Martyn M, Poulakis Z, Gaff C, Sung V, Wake M, Hunter M, Saunders K, Rose E, Lewis S, Jarmolowicz A, Phelan D, Rehm HL, Melbourne Genomics Health Alliance, Amor DJ. Exome sequencing in infants with congenital hearing impairment: a population based cohort study. European Journal of Human Genetics 2019. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-019-0553-8
- Wang J, Liu M, Sung V, Lycett K, Grobler A, Burgner D, Wong TY, Wake M. Associations of retinal vessel calibre and hearing status in childhood and in mid-life: Cross-generational population-based study. JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery 2020. doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2019.4484
- Sung V, Smith L, Poulakis Z, Burt RA, Carew P, Tobin S, Wake M. Data Resource Profile: Victorian Childhood Hearing Impairment Longitudinal Databank (VicCHILD). International Journal of Epidemiology 2019, dyz168, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz168
- Sung V, Downie L, Paxton G, Liddle K, Birman C, Chan W, Cottier C, Harris A, Hunter M, Peadon E, Peacock K, Roddick L, Rose E, Saunders K, Amor DJ. Childhood Hearing Australasian Medical Professionals (CHAMP) network: consensus guidelines on investigation and clinical management of childhood hearing loss. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2019, 55: 1013-1022. doi:10.1111/jpc.14508
- Wang J, Quach J, Sung V, Carew P, Edwards B, Grobler A, Gold L, Wake M. Academic, behavioural and quality of life outcomes of slight to mild hearing loss in late childhood: A population-based study. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2019 Nov;104(11):1056-1063. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2019-316917. Epub 2019 May 11. PMID: 31079073.
- Wang J, Sung V, Carew P, Liu RS, Burgner D, Wake M. Inflammation and hearing status in mid-childhood and mid-life: A population-based cross-sectional study. International Journal of Epidemiology 2019, dyz023, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz023
- Wang J, Sung V, Carew P, Burt RA, Liu M, Wang Y, Afandi A, Wake M. Prevalence of childhood hearing loss and secular trends: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Academic Pediatrics. 2019; 19(5):504-514
- Wang J, Nguyen M, Sung V, Grobler A, Burgner D, Saffery R, Wake M. Associations between telomere length and hearing status in mid-childhood and mid-life: Population-based cross-sectional study. Ear & Hearing. 2019; 40(5):1256-1259.
- Wang J, Sung V, le Clercq CMP, Burt RA, Carew P, Liu RS, Mensah FK, Gold L, Wake M. High prevalence of slight and mild hearing loss across mid-life: a cross-sectional national Australian study. Public Health 2019;168:26-35
- Wang J, Sung V, Lycett K, Carew P, Liu R, Grobler A, Zubrick S, Olds T, Wake M. How body composition influences hearing status by mid-childhood and mid-life: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. International Journal of Obesity 2018; 42(10): 1771-81
- Wang J, le Clercq C. M. P, Sung V, Carew P, Liu R, Mensah F, Burt R, Gold L, Wake. Cross-sectional epidemiology of hearing loss in Australian children aged 11-12 years old and 25-year secular trends. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2018; 103(6): 579-85.