The Ausonex™ vision is a world where individuals with hearing impairment can attain their full potential in life through timely detection, accurate diagnosis and effective rehabilitation.

Ausonex /aw”son’iks/ n. The combination of Audi(o)- (hearing), Sonitus (noise) and Expedia (test)

Ausonex™ is devoted to the development of dynamic, innovative technology that will revolutionise the way we assess hearing and significantly improve the cost-effectiveness of hearing screening worldwide.

Worldwide, the World Health Organisation (2007) estimates that there are some 278,000,000 people suffering from a disabling hearing impairment. With regards to newborns, two to six out of every 1,000 children (0.2 to 0.6%) in the developed world are born with significant hearing loss. This hearing loss can have a devastating effect on the development of these children, their families, and the societies they live in. To detect these children early, many countries have begun the Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening (UNHS) program.

The UNHS program aims to screen every newborn child, and has been welcomed by the general public. However, these programs are expensive to implement. In the developed world alone, the cost of implementing the UNHS program is estimated at around AU$500,000,000. Further costs are added by false positive results (the unnecessary failing of children with normal hearing) during current conventional technology. Whilst it is widely expected that the cost of UNHS will be more than offset by the benefits of identifying these children early, the cost of UNHS must be reduced if it is to continue and expand into the developing world.

Ausonex™ has developed a way to dramatically reduce neonatal screening times based on a novel acoustic stimulus and response reconstruction and analysis algorithms. It is portable, easy to use and very robust, which is important if you want to conduct screening tests in regional and remote areas. Ultimately, the Ausonex™ OneStep technology aims to reduce associated time and cost of screening to increase availability and accessibility of UNHS programs for individuals residing in both developed and developing countries.

The speed and accuracy of the Ausonex™ OneStep technology promises to significantly reduce the cost of hearing screening programs worldwide, and because the test is so quick, a much more thorough examination than normal is possible. This allows faster follow-up in cases where hearing impairment is detected.

The Ausonex™ OneStep technology has already received significant recognition in terms of innovation and potential contribution to improving quality of life. This recognition includes the University of Queensland Trailblazer Award (2006) and a finalist placing in the University of Queensland Enterprize Business Competition (2006).

Ausonex™ major shareholders are Symbiosis Group – an early stage life science investment company and UniQuest – Australia’s premier university commercialisation agency.

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