Children's hearing tests - Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

The Hearing and Balance Centre at Leeds General Infirmary is able to provide a hearing assessment service for children of all ages. If you feel that your child has a hearing problem your GP is able to make a referral directly into the Hearing and Balance Centre for a hearing test.

Your child’s visit for a hearing test

At your appointment you will be seen by a member of our specialist paediatric audiology team.

Firstly we will take a history to find out about the problems your child has been having with their hearing. Following this we will undertake a thorough hearing test. The exact type of test we choose will depend on the age of your child. We will normally be able to explain the results and help you to decide what should be done next.

Visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) can be used to test children form 7 months to 2.5 years of age. During the test your child will sit on your lap or on a chair. Sounds will be played from speakers or earphones and your child will be encouraged to turn, a toy will light up in order to encourage them and keep their interest. The level of the sound played through the speakers will be varied in order to find out the quietest sound your child can respond to.

Play audiometry can be performed from 2 to around 5 years of age. During the test your child will be encouraged to perform a simple task when they hear a sound, such as putting a brick in a box or a man in a boat. Sounds will either be played through a speaker or through headphones and the level varied to find the quietest sounds they can respond to.

Over 5 years of age children generally perform pure tone audiometry which is similar to the type of hearing test an adult may have. Sounds will be played through headphones and your child will be asked to press a button when they hear a sound. As with other tests the level of the sound is varied in order to determine the quietest sound your child can hear.

Tympanometry can be performed on children of all ages and is a test undertaken on most children attending for hearing assessment and is sometimes referred to as a ‘pressure test’. Your audiologist will place a soft rubber tube at the entrance of your child’s ear and air will be gently blown down the tube. The test is used to see how well your child’s eardrum moves and whether there may be fluid behind it stopping sound from passing to the inner ear as easily as it could.

If the hearing test shows that your child has a hearing problem the results should be able to show the reason for any hearing loss. In general most hearing losses identified in such appointments are temporary in nature and are the result of fluid build up behind the eardrums, sometimes called ‘glue ear’. Some hearing losses identified at this age can be permanent and are the result of problems with the inner ear or the nerves that carry information about sound to the brain. Such hearing losses are called sensorineural hearing losses.