Hearing Aid Users in Broken Hill Face Service Cuts

ABC Broken Hill

Topic: Hearing

Mon 27 Jul 2026 at 6:31am

Kym Files is worried about his hearing aids. His local Hearing Australia branch is closed for daily appointments.

In short:

The Broken Hill branch of Hearing Australia has cut its daily appointments to about one week every few months.

Residents who use hearing aids are worried about being left without help for a long time.

What's next?

Hearing Australia says staff leave caused the change, but it still wants to help Broken Hill.

Before Kym Files got his first hearing aids, he had trouble hearing and was mostly at home.

Mr. Files' hearing got worse over decades, but he was afraid of the cost and what people would think.

After getting his first hearing aids, his life got much better.

Kym Files says he is 'stone deaf' without his hearing aids.

The Broken Hill branch of Hearing Australia is reducing its services and sending work to other states.

Mr. Files has spent about $10,000 on hearing aids and tests in the past four years.

If his hearing aids break, Mr. Files is afraid he will be in silence for weeks or months again.

Kym Files thinks not being able to get his hearing aids fixed right away is a big problem.

He said, 'I only got my current hearing aids two and a half months ago, and I didn't know this place was closing down.'

He also said, 'If I had known, I would have gone somewhere else.'

Services reduced due to staff shortages

While Broken Hill has other audiologist services, none are open every day.

The Hearing Australia branch is now only open some of the time, like the other services.

An audiologist from Adelaide will come to Broken Hill for a week every two to three months.

Kym Files was told that hearing aid parts could take up to two weeks to arrive.

Hearing Australia said the change was due to staff leave and trouble finding new staff.

The company said, 'Our audiologist is on leave, and we can't find a replacement, so we can't keep the center open all the time.'

Hearing Australia said it would still help clients with problems, give them new parts, and offer advice.

The company said it might add more visits if people want more face-to-face appointments.

Hearing aid users are afraid of being 'cut off from the world'.

Customer Ghislaine Barbe said Hearing Australia should have been prepared for the staff leave.

She said, 'The staff told us they were leaving months ago, so there should have been a replacement by now.'

Ghislaine Barbe thinks this is another example of regional communities being treated unfairly.

She believes Hearing Australia had enough time to fix its staffing problems.

Ms. Barbe said, 'It's another thing that's being taken away from our region, and it's not fair.'

She also said, 'Imagine if you wore glasses and lost them; it's a big problem, just like with hearing aids.'

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the government knows how important hearing services are.

The department said other services are available in Broken Hill.

The spokesperson said, 'People can get government-subsidised hearing services from other providers in Broken Hill.'

Hearing aid batteries can also be ordered and sent to clients.

The ABC talked to other hearing aid providers in Broken Hill.

One of them, Amplifon, is closed due to staff shortages but will reopen soon.

Amplifon said it will have a full-time employee and an audiologist available some of the time.

Kym Files is disappointed in Hearing Australia and doesn't want to change providers.

He said, 'It's very disappointing that a government organization would let people down in a rural town like Broken Hill.'

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