During the appointment we will carry out one or more different tests depending on the developmental age of your child. None of these tests should be uncomfortable for your child or cause any side effects. The aim is to find out your child’s hearing levels and identify any hearing difficulties. This may involve more than one visit to the department to build up a full set of results, to confirm results or to monitor hearing over a period of time.
· Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) testing – ABR testing is usually used for babies who are too young to show reliable physical responses to sound. Sticky pads are placed on your baby’s forehead and behind each ear, and sounds are played into their ear while they sleep. We check your baby’s responses to sounds by looking at wave patterns on a computer screen, and aim to find out the quietest sounds they can hear.
· Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) testing – A soft-tipped earpiece is placed into your child’s ear canal, and a clicking sound is played. This test gives information about how well the inner ear (cochlea) is working.
· Visual Reinforcement Audiometry – Sounds are played either through small speakers, headphones or a bone conductor (which vibrates on the bone behind the ear), and we condition your child to turn to see a visual reward such as a puppet, when they hear a sound. This test can be used for children between about 6 months and 30 months of age. We aim to measure the quietest level of sound at which your child will respond.
· Play Audiometry – This test is suitable for children with a developmental age of approximately 2 to 4 years. We will play a game with your child, and ask them to carry a simple task – such as putting a man in a boat – when they hear a sound. We aim to measure the quietest level of sound at which your child will respond.
· Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) – PTA is used to assess the hearing of older children and adults. Your child will be asked to press a button in response to hearing a sound, and we will measure the quietest sounds that they are able to hear. This may be carried out using a small speaker, headphones or a bone conductor (which vibrates on the bone behind the ear).
· Speech testing – Your child will be asked to point to different toys or pictures, or to repeat words they have heard, when listening to a recorded voice played at different levels.
· Otoscopy – We will attempt to examine your child’s ear canals and eardrums using a small torch called an otoscope.
· Tympanometry – This tells us how the middle part of the ear is working. A soft-tipped earpiece is placed into the ear canal for a few seconds. This gently puffs air into the ear canal and measures how well your child’s eardrum is moving. This can tell us if there is any fluid or congestion in the middle ear, often called ‘glue ear’.
