Children's Hearing Tests
Hearing clinic tests are performed depending on your child’s stage of development and their age.
Most of our testing involves play and therefore children will not realise they are being assessed.
Behavioural testing
Visual Reinforcement Audiometry
VRA testing is most common in children from the age of 6 months - two and a half years depending on their stage of development. Sound at particular frequencies are presented through speakers or earphones. When the child hears the sound, they are conditioned by the audiologists to turn their head for a visual reward (normally an activated toy lighting up or screen). This test can give overall hearing results if sounds are presented through speakers and individual ear results if your child allows earphones/headphones to be used.
It is usual practice for just one parent/guardian to be in the clinic whist the assessment is being completed. The room is a controlled environment and too many people in the room could potentially affect this but also be a further source of distraction for the child making testing less reliable and difficult to interpret. We can always invite the second adult to join the appointment at the end to hear the discussions after testing.
Play Audiometry
Audiometry can be used from as young as two and a half years old. The audiologists condition the child to move a toy into a box when they hear a sound presented using headphones or earphones. We have plenty of toys to use. Older children can respond to the sounds using a response button.
Bone Conduction
A small vibrating device on a headband is positioned behind your child’s ear. When the sounds are presented, they are passed through the bone directly to the inner ear. This can establish if a hearing loss is conductive or sensorineural.
Speech Testing
Speech discrimination testing assesses your child’s ability to listen for words at different volumes. This can be done by asking the child to identify pictures, toys or by repeating aloud the words they have heard with and without lip reading.
Objective testing
Tympanometry
Tympanometry can test how the middle ear is working. An earpiece is held in the entrance of the ear canal and a small pressure of air enters the canal. This should cause the eardrum to move freely in and outward recording a change in pressure. This pressure change is measured by the earpiece. If the ear drum is not moving freely there is likely to be a fluid buildup/congestion (glue ear) behind the ear drum or another problem in the middle ear. This is a very quick test.
Oto-Acoustic Emissions
Oto-Acoustic emissions is used as part of the newborn hearing screening program which is offered to all babies shortly after birth.
They can also be measured as part of a child’s hearing assessment. A small earpiece is placed in the ear and a clicking sound is played. If the cochlea is working correctly the earpiece will pick up a faint response. This response is recorded and will highlight if the child needs to be referred for further hearing testing. If the result shows a poor response this does not necessarily mean the child has a hearing loss. An unsettled child, background noise or fluid in the ear canal can cause difficulty in recording the responses from the cochlea.
Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR)
This is a specialised test and will be discussed with you if it is required before attending the Children’s Hearing Clinic.
Four small sensors are placed on the child’s head by the audiologist. To collect an accurate result the child must lay very still and quiet through the test. In young babies this test can be carried out while they are sleeping. In slightly older children a sedation or anaesthetic maybe offered.
ABR testing measures if the sound is being sent from the cochlea through the auditory nerve to the brain.
For further information on hearing tests, please visit: Hearing tests for children | Identifying childhood deafness (ndcs.org.uk)
