This World Hearing Day (3 March 2026), we’re celebrating the success of our growing Hearing Implant Program (HIP) and the dedicated team of professionals helping transform the lives of people with hearing loss.
Since the program launched in late 2024, 16 Gold Coast adults have received cochlear implants locally as the lifechanging surgery became available through the public health system close to home for the first time.
Patients aged 26 to 87 years have undergone cochlear implantation highlighting how hearing loss affects adults at every stage of life.
The program is coordinated by Advanced Audiologist and HIP Clinical Lead Georgia Cambridge who has more than 16 years’ experience in the field, including five at Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH).
She couldn’t be prouder of what the program is achieving.
“It’s been a huge accomplishment to get it off the ground and incredibly rewarding to be able to make a difference for our patients’ quality of life,” Georgia said.
Before the program began, patients eligible for cochlear implants often faced challenges like travel burdens to access care outside the region.
“Gold Coast Health’s model is the first of its kind across Queensland, using a public–private partnership where audiology appointments are outsourced to community providers.
This gives patients more options, reduces travel, and frees hospital resources, while still offering streamlined, high-quality care.
“We’re trying something a bit different and it’s going really well so far,” Georgia said.
The impact of the program has been profound to say the least, with recipients reporting remarkable improvements in communication, confidence and daily life.
“Their speech understanding has greatly improved, they’re hearing things they haven’t heard in years, taking part in conversations, enjoying family gatherings and music again,” Georgia said.
For her, supporting this journey is one of her favourite parts of the role.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to help coordinate the program and make sure patients have a smooth, well-informed experience.”
World Hearing Day is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the broader impacts of untreated hearing loss, including reduced social connection and isolation, which emerging research shows is linked to cognitive decline.
Regular hearing checks remain key. But when should adults get a hearing test?
- If you notice changes, such as asking for repetition more often
- If background noise (e.g. cafés) becomes more challenging
- When you want a baseline test to track changes over time
In children, early detection is equally important, with hearing tests now common in Prep and rolling out across kindergartens, given the link between hearing, speech, and language development.
This World Hearing Day, take a moment to recognise the clinicians, community partners and patients who have helped make the Hearing Implant Program such a success in its first year.
Most of all, we celebrate the impact that better hearing can have - improved connection, confidence, and quality of life.
