Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children are three times more likely to suffer from otitis media (middle ear infections) and twice as likely to have long-term hearing problems than non-Indigenous children in Australia.1 If left unchecked, ear disease can have devastating impacts throughout a child’s life.4

But limited access to Ear, Nose and Throat (E.N.T.) specialists is a real challenge for communities – especially for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in rural and remote areas. The prevalence of chronic ear disease in such children is nearly ten times greater than the level which the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers a massive public health problem, requiring urgent attention.5

When it comes to chronic ear conditions the disparity is even starker for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in rural and remote areas. The prevalence of chronic ear disease in such children is nearly ten times greater than the level which the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers a massive public health problem, requiring urgent attention.5

Being unable to hear properly can drastically affect a child’s ability to develop speech and language skills, learn and interact with family and friends. It can contribute to behavioural problems and limit future employment opportunities, leading to lifelong challenges.

That’s why checking rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s ear health and hearing is so important. During routine health check-ups a health worker, nurse or doctor will examine a child’s ears using an otoscope (ear camera) and if there appears to be an issue will capture an image that can be further analysed.

Portrait photo of Dr Habib

Dr Al-Rahim Habib, Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery Unaccredited Registrar, leading the DrumBeat.ai project

But Australia faces a shortage of Ear, Nose and Throat specialists which can lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment, particularly if the child lives outside a metropolitan area.

Now a landmark project, called DrumBeat.ai (www.drumbeat.ai), is exploring how artificial intelligence can be used to interpret and triage the images – allowing at risk children to be quickly identified regardless of where they live.

Dr Al-Rahim Habib is an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery Unaccredited Registrar and a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, leading the DrumBeat.ai project, supervised by Associate Professor Narinder Singh, Head of ENT at Westmead Hospital and a clinical academic at the University of Sydney. The aim of the DrumBeat.ai project is to empower front line health workers who might not have the expertise or experience at recognising ear disease or determining when urgent referral needs to be expedited – but can now get support via the digital platform.

To address the issue, the DrumBeat.ai team has been working with the Azure FastTrack team to develop a Microsoft Azure based solution that uses Azure Custom Vision and a machine learning model, trained using 20,000 existing otoscopic images, which can then analyse new images on the fly.

Analysing otoscopic images is notoriously difficult; early results from the project are highly encouraging and show that the DrumBeat.ai algorithm can differentiate normal from abnormal eardrums with an accuracy comparable to ear disease experts.

Associate Professor Narinder Singh, chief investigator on Drumbeat.ai says; “Having grown up on my family’s farm in Griffith, country NSW, I have first-hand experience of the difficulty in accessing timely healthcare in the bush. Any program that accelerates the speed at which at-risk children can be treated can have a huge impact for patients, care providers and the community.