Children's Audiology
Our children's audiology service offers hearing assessments for children of all ages, from newborn babies to young adults. This includes specialist testing for children with complex needs.
We also support their families, working closely with them and our education and health colleagues.
What happens if your baby is referred to Audiology for further hearing tests after his or her newborn hearing screening?
How to prepare for your appointment, and what happens on the day.
What happens during their appointment at Audiology.
Audiology patients are seen within the children’s service until they are 18, unless you have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and are in full-time education. In that case we’ll continue to see you in the children’s service until you’re 25.
The aim of fitting hearing aids for your child is to make speech and other important sounds accessible for them that they may otherwise miss out on.
Glue ear is one of the most common causes of hearing loss in children. In many cases it will get better on its own, but occasionally further help is needed.
What happens when your child is referred to us at Audiology?
We get referrals through the newborn hearing screening programme, GPs, health visitors, school nurses and paediatricians.
If your child is referred to us you’ll get an appointment letter with the date and time of their hearing assessment, plus where you’ll need to take them.
If you can’t make the appointment, please contact us as soon as possible to rearrange the date (our contact details will be in the letter) so we can offer the appointment to another family.
The hearing assessment appointment
Where your child’s hearing assessment will be, what will happen during the appointment, and how long it’ll take, will mostly depend on their age.
Whatever your child’s age, at the appointment we will:
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discuss any worries you have about your child’s hearing with you
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ask you questions about your child’s hearing
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look in your child’s ears
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complete a hearing assessment appropriate for your child
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discuss the assessment results with you, and draw up a management plan that’s designed for your child.
If we can’t complete the hearing assessment in clinic, there are other tests we can do. We’ll talk these through with you at the appointment.
After the appointment
After the appointment we’ll send a report with the assessment results and the plan to you and any relevant people, such as the referrer and your child’s GP.
If the hearing assessment is satisfactory we’ll discharge your child back to the care of your GP. If you are worried about your child’s hearing in the future please see your GP, or your health visitor if your child is in pre-school.
For younger children, in their record (red baby book) there are two checklists for hearing responses and speech and language. These will be helpful as a guide, but please remember that the book deals with approximate ages, and that children vary greatly. If you are worried, please talk to your health visitor.
Further hearing tests
Sometimes at the appointment we may find that your child has a hearing loss. In this case we’ll do extra tests to try and show if the loss is temporary, or likely to be permanent.
We’ll discuss the hearing test results with you, and all possible management options, and arrange further assessment reviews. If necessary, we may refer your child onto other services such as the Ear, Nose and Throat service. Some children with hearing loss will benefit from wearing hearing aids, and we'll discuss this with you.
We also have close links with the Dorset Deaf Children’s Society, who can offer families further support, and we’ll give you their contact details, if you’d like us to.