Table 2. Costs of screening, both strategies.

	Unit	Unit cost	AEC
Deadly Ears Program
Fixed costs
Screening equipment	5 years	$5,852	$1,352
Carry cases	2 years	$504	$271
Variable costs
Health worker	1 FTE	$73,238	$73,238
Consumables	1 year	$1,076	$1,076
Mileage reimbursement	3,075km a	$0.8	$2,306
Total cost	887 children b	$88	$78,243
MTESS Service
Fixed costs
Van, fit-out and equipment	5 years	$192,298	$44,416
Garage	5 years	$23,256	$5,372
Database costs	5 years	$50,236	$11,603
Variable staff costs
Health worker	2 FTEs	$73,238	$146,746
Senior ENT surgeon	169 hours c	$121	$20,495
Variable travel, network and consumable costs
Petrol	6,150 km d	$0.8	$4,613
Broadband wireless Internet access	12 months	$165	$1,980
Clinical supplies	1 year	$1,246	$1,246
Total cost	2026 children e	$117	$236,200

Abbreviation: ACE = annual equivalent cost; ENT = ear, nose, throat; FTE = full time equivalent;

^aEstimated travel distance required to cover 44% of the given population with an average weekly millage of 75km;

^bAssuming 35% of the estimated 2,533 registered children in the community are screened every 12-months;

^cEstimated total time to review 2026 screening assessments conducted in 1-year with an average review time per screen of five minutes;

^dEstimated travel distance required to cover 80% of the given population with an average weekly millage of 75km;

^eAssuming 80% of the estimated 2,533 registered children in the community are screened every 12-months