Title
Geospatial Mapping of Otitis Media and Social Determinants in remote Northern Territory communities
Conference Name
Virtual Conference on Computational Audiology
Conference Start Date
2025-06-26
Conference End Date
2025-06-27
Conference Location
Virtual
Author(s)
Dune, Tinashe
Thornton, Mich
Baker, Matthew
Abstract
Background: Otitis media (OM) is a significant public health issue in remote Northern Territory (NT) communities, especially among Aboriginal children, as it contributes to hearing loss, developmental delays, and broader social challenges. Despite extensive documentation of OM’s biological and environmental risk factors, there is limited understanding of how social determinants such as housing, education, and healthcare access impact its prevalence and distribution. Methods: This project uses a ten-year dataset collected by NT Hearing Services from 2014 to 2024. Microsoft’s PowerBI with ArcGIS was the selected interface to visualise OM clusters. Phase 1: The map’s development, including geo-coordinates, data linkage of OM subtypes, and associated hearing loss, is geo-referenced per community over the ten-year period. Phase 2: Creation of a 100-point index derived from a combination of existing health and social data, weighted based on their relevance to OM, based on national census data per community. Phase 3: Use of AI tools and regression modelling to explore temporal trends and variations and investigate the relationship between various social determinants and the prevalence of otitis media in different communities. Results: Currently, Phase 1 has been completed, i.e. geospatial mapping of remote communities and data linkage of the hearing and ear disease. Phases 2 and 3 are currently ongoing (social determinant indices) and investigation of the appropriate AI tools for modelling. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the potential of geospatial AI to uncover hidden patterns and support targeted health interventions. The interactive interface will allow policymakers and community stakeholders to customise data views down to the community level and prioritise responses based on the most critical social determinants in each community. The final results aim to support more equitable, data-driven health planning for Aboriginal children in the NT.
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
Geospatial Mapping of Otitis Media and Social Determinants.mp4
Size
7 MB
Format
mp4
Checksum
(MD5):2f7c54465a156e7cfd0b2fafdef45675
Date Issued
2025-06-27
Type
Conference presentation
Permanent link to this record
Owning collection
