Audiology for children

Children’s hearing plays a critical part of a child’s development. Hearing problems can lead to delays with speech and language development, problems at school and developing social skills.

How we help

Our specialist team provides hearing assessment and therapy for very young children, children with multiple disabilities, children at an increased risk of permanent hearing problems and children diagnosed with permanent hearing loss.

We work closely with other professionals to best support you and your child arranging suitable care for any issues found following assessment. Our hearing therapists provide extra support, communication plans, equipment advice and tinnitus retraining to children and co-ordinate our young adult’s move to adult services.

Referrals to the audiology service may come from a range of sources including the newborn hearing screening.

What happens at your appointment

Usually one or two specialist children’s audiologists will see your child. Your appointment will last from 30 minutes up to one or possibly two hours, depending on the age and the type of testing your child needs. The appointment letter will confirm timings.

We will ask you some questions about your child’s hearing, medical history and any family history of hearing problems. We will also look in your child’s ears.

There are several tests we have to assess your child’s hearing. We will decide which test to use, depending on your child’s developmental age and whether they are awake or asleep. Once a child is approximately 8-10 months old we try to test their hearing by getting them to respond to sounds in other ways through play, for this it will be important your child is awake.

Some tests may involve using headphones (depending on your child’s age), if possible please try and teach your child to be comfortable wearing them.

Please try and arrange childcare for any other siblings as our hearing tests will take place in a quiet room.

Sometimes we may need to bring your child back for a second appointment for further tests.

Further information on children’s hearing appointments

Newborn hearing testing appointments

Newborn babies are offered a hearing screen in hospital. For some babies, further screening may be required after this and a referral to our service may be needed for specialist testing including Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) testing. It is highly recommended hearing is tested in a newborn, so that support and advice can be given right from the start. The testing can take up to 2 hours and will require a baby to be asleep during the test. Find out more about the NHS England Newborn hearing screening.

Hearing assessment appointments

These appointments take place in our new facility in the Royal Alexandra Children’s hospital, or in one of our outreach clinics across the county (Princess Royal Hospital, Mile Oak Medical Centre or County Oak Medical Centre). We offer a variety of tests to gain information regarding a child’s hearing level, following national recommended guidelines. This may include playing listening games, pressing a button or observing responses to sound. We also offer alternative tests that require minimal cooperation from a child, if required.

Hearing aid appointments

The type of hearing aid that will be suitable for a child will depend on the type and level of deafness they have. We fit a range of hearing aid options including digital hearing aids and bone anchored hearing devices. Our holistic approach takes into account clinical, environmental, social and personal elements and we actively encourage parental involvement. Our children’s bone-anchored hearing aid service is specialist within Sussex and we take referrals from all over the county.

Balance appointments

We are the specialist centre in our county for balance (vestibular) testing. In our new state of the art testing suite, we are able to offer a child-friendly approach to balance assessments. During balance appointments, we use a variety of tests to assess the function of a child’s balance system. These may include observation of simple activities such as walking, recording of eye movements or by stimulating balance organs using warm and cool air. We take a child-friendly approach to our balance testing and adapt our methods for each individual child.

What happens if a hearing loss is identified?

Depending on the type of hearing loss your child has, the right support and management will be given. This may involve monitoring, referring to another professional or fitting of a hearing aid.

What if my child needs a hearing aid?

If your child needs a hearing aid we will discuss the use of increasing sounds and any alternative options. Within our service we fit hearing aids based on the needs of the child. We will also sometimes refer your child to another paediatric professional or the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT service for their medical opinion.