An audiology unit at a Queensland public hospital has misdiagnosed some profoundly deaf children as having no hearing loss and programmed cochlear implants incorrectly in others, a report has found.

The State Government will pay $2.2 million in compensation to almost 100 children after the investigation found widespread issues in the Townsville University Hospital’s audiology clinic. 

The independent review, requested by the Townsville Hospital and Health Service in June, looked into concerns that testing may have misidentified profound hearing loss in some infants as transient or non-existent. 

In addition, it also investigated issues relating to the incorrect mapping of cochlear implants in other children, which meant they had reduced or minimal access to sound.