BA, DipAud

Meagan Ward

Clinical Lead Community Outreach
KEY FIELDS OF INTEREST

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hearing health
Paediatric hearing

Contact me
BA, DipAud

Meagan Ward

Clinical Lead Community Outreach

Meagan is Clinical Lead Community Outreach in the Communication Sciences Department.  A non-Indigenous audiologist, Meagan lives on Gadigal land in Sydney, NSW. Meagan has worked with Hearing Australia as a paediatric audiologist and with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait program doing outreach work across remote, urban and regional areas.  Meagan has been involved in several projects with NAL over the last two years including: developing and validating the PLUM and HATS listening and communication checklists; the Urban Hearing Pathway project -understanding how service access impacts the burden of avoidable hearing loss experienced by young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families in urban areas;  and the Timeframe project- developing an optimal timeframe for ensuring children with persistent middle ear problems are helped to hear well again.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA); Postgraduate Diploma of Audiology (DipAud).

Projects
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caregivers’ perspectives on supporting young children’s hearing health and language development 

Exploring the views and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caregivers regarding supporting hearing health and language development, the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caregivers support the language of their children and to explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caregivers’ views towards audiological and speech pathology services.
Developing recommendations for primary health Ear Health and Hearing Checks for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

Developing feasible recommendations for primary health Ear Health and Hearing Checks for young Aboriginal children

Key publications

Ching TYC, Hou S, Seeto M, Harkus S, Ward M, Marnane V, Kong K., 2020
The Parents’ evaluation of Listening and Understanding Measure (PLUM): Development and normative data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children below 6 years of age
Deafness & Education International
Ching T, Harkus S, Hou S, Ward M, Saetre-Turner M & Marnane V. , 2020
NAL Research – PLUM and HATS: Helping to detect children with hearing loss from otitis media
Audiology Now 80
Ching TYC, Saetre-Turner M, Harkus S, Martin L, Ward M, Marnane V, Jones C, Collyer E, Khamchuang C, Kong K., 2020
The Hearing and Talking Scale (HATS): development and validation with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in urban and remote settings in Australia
Deafness & Education International
Harkus SF, Caso KAJ, Hall ST, Kung C, Manton TN, Murthy SJ, Olive GAL, Rankmore TM, Roberts NL, Ward ML, Kong KM, 2021
‘Sometimes you think they’re being mugul. Sometimes they’re gammin, playing tricks, but sometimes it’s ears. Hard to tell the difference.’ The perspectives of urban parents and carers of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children on their journey to diagnosis of persistent ear health and hearing problems.’
Public Health Research and Practice