Hearing assessments for school-age 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 clinician to contact you.  

During the appointment 

These appointments last 45 minutes, and will normally be with one Audiologist, unless we feel it would be helpful to have a second Audiologist to help with testing. 

Depending on the developmental stage of your child we’ll ask them to wait for a sound, and then make a response, for example putting a wooden man in a boat when they have heard a noise, or pressing a button. To begin with the sounds are played through a loudspeaker. When the child is ready we play the sounds through headphones.

We may also complete the following tests:

• 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. 

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)

If we can't complete the hearing assessment on the day, we’ll talk to you about other tests we can do.