Infant & Children Hearing Assessment
Children are not small adults. They are different in many aspects and their hearing loss must be evaluated and treated differently from adults with similar hearing profiles. In children, even a mild hearing loss can cause problems in speech, language, learning and social skills. It is therefore, important to accurately diagnose hearing loss in young children and this requires different types of test depending on a child’s age, development and health.
1. Newborn Hearing Screening (AABR)
This is a quick and automatic test to check a newborn baby’s hearing after birth. A ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ result is shown once the test is completed. A baby that fails this screening will need a full hearing evaluation.
2. Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR or BERA)
This is a diagnostic test performed on young children to measure their hearing levels. During the test, tiny earphones are placed in the child’s ear canals and soft electrode sensors are placed on the forehead and behind the ears. Clicking sounds are played through the earphones and the sensors record the hearing nerve and brainstem activity in response to these sounds.
3. Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR)
Audiologists usually performed ASSR together with ABR to better understand the level of hearing loss. Children are usually given mild sedation to help them sleep during this test and brain activity is measured while listening to tones of varying frequency and intensity. The results are detected objectively using statistical formulae to determine the presence or absence of a true hearing response.
4. Oto-acoustic Emissions (OAE)
OAE can be used as a simple screening tool for hearing loss. During the test, a soft probe tip is placed gently into the ear and a mixture of high and low sound in different pitches is being played. The machine records the responses made by the cochlea’s outer hair cells.
5. Tympanometry
This test shows how well the eardrum moves and can help detect middle ear problems, such as glue ear or a perforated eardrum. A tympanometer probe with a small, rubber tip is placed in the child’s ear and it send a soft high frequency sound together with a puff of air into the ear canal. The shape of the graph that appears in the test result called a tympanogram shows how well the eardrum is moving.
6. Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA)
VRA relies on behavioural conditioning to train very young children to respond to sounds. It is used for children age 9 months to around 2 to 3 years old. Visual reinforcers such as cartoon animations are placed at each side of the child to “train†him to give a head turn every time a sound is heard. The cartoon animation is used to reward a correct response. The audiologist will then reduce the intensity of sound until the child’s minimum hearing thresholds is reached. Testing continues using different frequencies until a complete set of data is measured in both ears.
7. Play Audiometry
This behavioural hearing test is designed for children between 2 and 6 years of age. The child is conditioned to perform a listening task by playing a game, such as putting pegs in a board each time a sound is heard. The results are plotted on a graph called an ‘Audiogram’ and determine the child’s type and degree of hearing loss, if any.
At Novena ENT, we understand the critical importance of early identification and intervention for infants and children with hearing loss of any severity. Our renowned ENT specialists work closely with paediatric audiologists to accurately evaluate hearing abilities at even the youngest of age. They are well supported by our centre’s state-of-the art equipment and specialized facilities such as acoustic soundproof rooms that meet ISO standard for diagnostic testing.
