New South Wales toddler Hudson was one of many children caught up on the state's long waitlist for an ear operation after the pandemic put a halt on elective surgeries.
His mum Kiarna Lee felt she had no other option but to take out private health insurance in order to expedite the much-needed surgery.
"He had 10 months straight of ear infections. [He had] six, one after the another," Ms Lee said.
"He had pus oozing from his ears, he wouldn't eat, he lost 400 grams a week from the age of four months.
"I had … a referral to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon; and was told if we went public, the wait for grommets [ear-draining tubes] was 18 months to two years."
In the end, Ms Lee took out the private health insurance and her son had the surgery October last year. But by then, Hudson was 14 months old, and Ms Lee felt the damage was done.
"It was a horror show, and I moved mountains for a referral because it was like I was being told to go away because the surgery system was so clogged," she said.
It is estimated that by the age of four, eight in 10 Australian kids will have had an ear infection.
And Indigenous Australians are 10 times more likely to suffer from ear disease.
Surgeon concerned by delays
Ear, nose and throat surgeon and proud Worimi man Kelvin Kong has used today's World Hearing Day to raise concerns about the operating delays.
He said delayed grommet surgery could lead to lifelong impacts due to poor hearing health.
"We already have had long waitlists for operating times as it is," Professor Kong said.
"And so this has been magnified by pausing non-urgent surgery in both the public and private sector, and it is just snowballing."
Professor Kong has been part of the short film BOOM, involving the cartoon character L'il Mike to send a message to communities about glue ear.
He also engages in outreach work in the Kimberley region each year in a bid to reduce ear-infection rates in at-risk Indigenous communities.
Professor Kong said he had been unable to visit the communities for two years due to COVID, which may be compounding aural problems.
Impact on suspended surgery swift
In 2020 the Commonwealth suspended non-urgent and semi-urgent surgery on the back of COVID.
Subsequent Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing data has shown the impact was swift.
In New South Wales from 2018–19, the number of people waiting a year or more for ENT elective surgery was 7 per cent.
It jumped to 11 per cent the year after, and to more than 25 per cent in 2020–21.
Newcastle speech pathologist Sarita Hamall said the snowball effect from delayed surgery was not to be underestimated.
Emma Purdon is also a speech clinician, and has a three-year-old son who underwent surgery to have a set of grommets put in just prior to the elective surgery ban.
The grommets have since fallen out, and she fears her son's speech will be affected as he waits to be seen again.
"The grommets aren't in anymore, and winter is coming," Ms Purdon said.
"And so here come the ear infections, and we are just at that tricky point again."
In a statement, NSW Health said it had invested an additional $460 million to fast-track elective surgeries.
"During the ban, surgeries still continued."
For Professor Kong, it is the simple things that hearing can bring that make him smile.
"You know one kid came back the other week, and they started swearing, which I was laughing at, and it was because the next-door neighbour had a men's shed and [the child] had never heard swear words before," he said.
