Hearing assessments for pre-school children

Before the appointment 

Food and drink are generally only allowed in the clinic rooms for babies. There are baby changing facilities and a disabled toilet at our clinic sites. 

If you would like to discuss any other needs either your child or yourselves have before attending clinic, please call us on 0300 303 8640. If we can’t immediately help you when you call us, we'll arrange for a member of the team to contact you.  

There are a couple of really good TV programmes for pre-school children to explain what happens at the Audiology appointment: 

• Teletubbies – Hearing and play audiometry: BBC iPlayer - Teletubbies - Series 2: 28. Listen 
• Get Well Soon – Play audiometry and hearing aids

During the appointment 

These appointments last 45 minutes, and there will be two Audiologists. If possible, it is helpful to arrange child care for other siblings as we need the environment to be quiet and to reduce distractions for the child being assessed.

The hearing test we use will depend on the developmental stage and age of your child, and may be one of the following: 

• Visual reinforcement audiometry. Every time the child hears a sound (played either through a loudspeaker or headphones), they will see a fun toy light up in a cabinet or see an animation on a screen. This is a very effective assessment for this age group, and means the Audiologist can see which sounds they are able to hear. 

• Play audiometry. The child waits for a sound, and then make a response, for example putting a wooden man in a boat when they have heard a noise. To begin with the sounds are played through a loudspeaker. When the child is ready we play the sounds through headphones. Older children are asked to press a button when they hear a sound.

• Otoscopy and/or tympanometry. The audiologist may examine your baby’s outer ears with a light, as well as perform a pressure test to check how well the eardrums are moving. 

• Otoacoustic emission (OAE). In this test we’ll put a soft earpiece in the outer part of your baby’s ear which plays clicking sounds. The testing equipment listens for ‘echos’ from the inner ear (or ‘cochlea’) in response to the clicking.

After the appointment

We'll explain the results to you at the end of the appointment and you'll be able to ask any questions you may have. We'll also send you a copy of your child's clinic report as well as send a copy to your GP, health visitor and any other professionals involved (with your permission).