Services for children

There are several different types of appointment

Hearing Assessment Appointment

Hearing assessment focuses on whether there is a hearing impairment, and if so how much and the likely cause of the impairment. Parents may want a hearing assessment if they have been unsure about their child's hearing responses, whether it is due to mild or temporary hearing difficulties or more long-term concerns.

Hearing Aid Evaluation

Hearing Aid Evaluation is for children who have been previously diagnosed as having a hearing loss and has been fitted with hearing aids, to review the management that the child has. This would include evaluation of the child's current hearing aid prescription. If there are alternative hearing aid settings which may improve a child's access to sound, we may review the potential benefits of different signal processing strategies including cochlear implants. This information is given to parents and, if parents request it, to the local audiology service to consider these recommendations.

Auditory Processing Disorder Assessment

This term is used for people who have broadly normal hearing ability on the audiogram but who have difficulty in processing spoken information. This is not a single condition but a description of difficulties found particularly when the listening conditions are noisy or reverberant. An assessment allows the profile of difficulties to be defined with recommendations on how to improve listening conditions and skills.

Hyperacusis Assessment and Management Programme

Hyperacusis refers to oversensitivity or intolerance of particular sounds. This can cause major difficulties in everyday life for children with hyperacusis and their families or carers. We have a programme of management that reduces the impact of hyperacusis on daily life, which has been found to be effective for many children, either with or without other learning or communication difficulties.

New options for hearing aids with older children

At Chear we can explore the options for different models and types of hearing aids for older children and teenagers, within the context of the young person’s amplification requirements.  The possibility of in-the-ear, open fit or integrated radio aid receiver hearing aids will depend on the physical size of the ear and the level and type of hearing impairment. Our experience with discrete amplification for adults allows these options to be considered for an increasing range of hearing loss.

See article written by parent following successful fitting of in-the-canal hearing aids for a 14 year old boy.