Sam Harkus
Sam Harkus
Sam is a non-Indigenous audiologist, living on Gadigal land in Sydney, NSW. She has worked with Hearing Australia in clinical roles and as Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander program lead. Since 2019, Sam has worked on a range of research projects, a common thread being equitable access to ear health and hearing care for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Projects include: developing and validating the PLUM and HATS listening and communication checklists; understanding how service access impacts the burden of avoidable hearing loss experienced by young children in urban areas; and developing a recommendation on the optimal timeframe for ensuring children with persistent ear problems are helped to hear well again. Each responded to needs identified by the community, featured Aboriginal leadership and co-design, benefited participants, and led to changes in policy and practice. Sam continues to provide clinical services on Arrernte country in central Australia.
Featured Presentations:
Projects
Exploring the relationship between listening behaviours and language outcomes as well as parent perspectives on teaching children language.
Determine enablers and barriers to adoption of the PLUM and HATS tool, co-design strategies and provide training for care givers
Developing feasible recommendations for primary health Ear Health and Hearing Checks for young Aboriginal children
Support for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with persistent OM-related hearing loss comes in different forms, including ensuring the child has quality communication opportunities, using ‘hearing-friendly’ ways of communicating, and fitting hearing devices. However, not much is known about how much these and other supports help.
