Why might my children need a hearing assessment?

There are a number of reasons why your child might benefit from having their hearing formally assessed

• • Unlike other conditions hearing loss is ‘invisible’ – therefore while your child may respond well to many sounds they may be having difficulty hearing soft sounds (e.g. a number of speech sounds like ‘s’ and ‘f’ are soft sounds)
  • There are concerns regarding your child’s speech and language development.
  • Your child has had a number of ear (middle ear) infections (i.e. often referred to as glue ear).
  • There are concerns at school and at home regarding your child’s listening behaviour
  • Hearing can change
  • There is the potential for Newborn Hearing screening to miss a mild hearing loss
  • There is a history of hearing loss in your family
  • Reassurance

At what age can my child’s hearing be assessed?

• Following the implementation of the state-wide Newborn Hearing Screening program in 2003, most babies have their hearing screened within their first few days of life. This has dramatically reduced the age at which children with a significant hearing loss are diagnosed. However, newborn hearing screening is not a comprehensive hearing assessment and there is the potential for a mild hearing loss to be missed. Hearing can also change and therefore it is important to monitor your child’s hearing.

Cluasa Hearing Services provides standard and complex hearing assessments for children 6 months of age and above.

Play Audiometry

For children, 2 years to 5 years, of age Play Audiometry will primarily be used to obtain their hearing levels. Here your child may respond to sounds played under headphones by playing fun games like building towers with pegs, putting together a Mr Potato Head or completing a jigsaw puzzle.

Middle Ear Status

To determine your child’s middle ear status (health of their middle ear) a small probe will be placed in your child’s ear for approximately 10 seconds. A gentle puff of air is presented via the probe to measure eardrum movement and position. Generall, children enjoy holding the hand-held computer which analyses middle ear status and watching “their ear draw a picture”.

If your child has been found to have a hearing loss, results from this assessment help determine where the problem may be located within their hearing system.

Speech Discrimination

Speech discrimination tests are also selected based on your child’s age and developmental abilities. Older children may be asked to repeat words they hear under headphones, while younger children may identify pictures or toys with the audiologist testing using varying levels of their own voice.

CAPD testing

Cluasa Hearing offers diagnostic, management and remedial services for CAPD. The service is available for children aged seven and above who do not have a hearing loss, are suspected of having CAPD and have difficulty understanding speech in noisy situations, such as in the classroom.