2004 Denis Byrne Memorial Lecture: Travelling the Yellow Brick Road-audiology and the Community in Australia: Past, Present and Future

On the road to Oz there were many people involved in many adventures - some short-lived and leading to a dead-end, others more productive and contributing to progress towards the ultimate desired goal. Today we will travel a similar road this one to follow our progress as a developing profession in Australia, which, in partnership with our community, exists to assist our hearing-impaired community members. If we are not to lose our way, it is essential that audiologists maintain a client-centred, evidencebased approach. We must be able to demonstrate to our clients that audiologists truly provide a continuum of care; and that technology, while frequently integral, is only part of the solution - indeed, that technology should be a beginning, not an end, of habilitation/rehabilitation. It is equally incumbent on each and every one of us to take our part in raising and broadening community awareness at all levels of our society with regard to what an appropriately resourced audiology profession can contribute. The more such awareness exists, the less the risk that audiological services will be overlooked and underresourced. Together we will look at where we have come from, where we are now, and where we must head, if audiology in Australia is to gain, and maintain, its rightful place in the continuum of hearing health care.