How it works
Learn more about the purpose, structure and focus of Australia's Hearing Health Workforce Summit 2026.
About the summit
Australia’s Hearing Health Workforce Summit 2026 is being developed through a structured national consultation process designed to identify the issues, evidence, experience and perspectives needed for a focused two-day Summit in Adelaide.
The formal submission period has now closed. Submissions received are being used to help shape the Summit agenda, identify areas of alignment and difference, and determine the people and organisations whose perspectives will be important to the discussion.
Australia needs a hearing healthcare workforce that works as a connected whole, with each layer recognised for the safe, competent care it is trained to provide. The Summit will bring existing ideas, evidence and experience into one structured process, so they are not held in isolation but considered together against the pathway Australia needs.
The consultation process is helping ACAud understand where there is already alignment, where further evidence or discussion is needed, which matters require focused consideration, and which people and organisations need to be represented in the room.
Invitations to participate in the Summit are now being issued.
ACAud as Convenor of the Summit
ACAud is well placed to convene the Summit because it represents and connects the hearing workforce across students, nurse audiometrists, audiometrists and audiologists.
That whole-workforce perspective is essential because the pathway Australia needs will not come from a single professional title, training route or service model.
It will come from recognising layered skills, safe scope of practice, practical training pathways, rural and regional realities, early identification, culturally safe care, and the full chain of care from screening and assessment through to rehabilitation, device fitting, follow-up and ongoing support.
ACAud also holds practical workforce relationships across clinical practice, education, training, research, community services, government, industry and service delivery. These relationships enable the Summit to bring together people who can contribute both system-level expertise and real-world implementation experience.
Why it is important
The Summit will use a life-course pathway lens.
The question is not only who can provide care, but how hearing health is identified, responded to, referred, rehabilitated, followed up and measured across every major life stage.
This includes:
· newborn screening linked to early supported care;
· preschool checks between newborn screening and school entry;
· primary school and secondary school transition points;
· entering work and hearing health supports throughout working life;
· healthy ageing, rehabilitation, technology and connection; and
· hearing assessment and ongoing hearing support when entering residential aged care.
The aim is to examine how these parts of the system connect and what workforce, training, referral pathways, policy settings and service models are needed to support a more coherent hearing health journey across the lifespan.
Consultation
The formal submission period for the Hearing Health Workforce Summit 2026 has now closed.
Thank you to everyone who contributed submissions, workforce information, evidence, program examples and perspectives during the consultation period. This material is now informing the development of the Summit agenda and the structure of the two days.
Targeted consultation is continuing as the Summit develops, and invitations are now being issued to participants from across the hearing health, health, education, workforce, government, research, community and consumer sectors.
Although the formal submission period has closed, ACAud remains open to receiving relevant information.
If you have research, workforce data, program information, evidence, experience or other material that you believe should be considered as part of the Summit, it can still be provided to: hearingsummit@acaud.org
Material received after the formal submission period will be considered where relevant as the Summit agenda and discussion framework continue to develop.
People interested in participating in the Summit may also register their interest by emailing hearingsummit@acaud.org
Status
· Formal submissions opened 6 July 2026.
· Formal submissions closed 14 August 2026.
· Submission review and targeted consultation are underway.
· Invitations to participate in the Summit are now being issued.
· Relevant additional information may continue to be provided to ACAud as the Summit develops.
· Hearing Health Workforce Summit: 9 and 10 November 2026, Adelaide.
Contact
Hearing Health Workforce Summit hearingsummit@acaud.org acaud@acaud.org