Overview
Early diagnosis of hearing loss is critical for ensuring optimum speech and language development.
If your child has confirmed hearing loss, comprehensive evaluation of your child’s hearing ability and close monitoring are very important. Multiple assessments and tests may be needed to gather information and ensure appropriate treatment planning. It is very important to track your child’s hearing and auditory development over time. Monitoring of hearing aid functioning and benefit from amplification should occur on a regular basis.
What are the potential benefits of Audiology?
Early diagnosis is crucial to establishing early treatment and intervention services. Guidelines recommend hearing screening by one month and diagnostic evaluations completed by three months. If permanent hearing loss is identified, treatment will be recommended. Treatment may include auditory training, speech-language therapy, sign language, hearing aids, cochlear implants, or other amplification devices as appropriate. Because every child is unique, early intervention plans should be tailored to the individual needs of each child and family.
Hearing Aids
Infants with hearing loss should begin intervention and receive recommended amplification before six months of age. A wide range of hearing aids are fit at the Center, and loaner devices are available for use as needed early in the process.
Parent Education
Parent education and support are an important part of diagnosing and managing hearing loss in children. We support families in many ways including making available a wide variety of educational materials and parent support.
What can I expect when I arrive for my child’s appointment?
When you first arrive, you will check in at the front reception desk and tell them you are here for Audiology. There will be seating in the waiting area of the Audiology Department. If you have not already completed your intake forms, you will need to complete a one-page case history form about your child. The other pages are general registration and Consent and Service Agreement forms. Any referral or insurance information will also be verified at that time. Please wait for the Audiologist in the waiting area.
Can I bring other children with me to the appointment?
Due to the quiet testing environment, other children are not permitted in the hearing test room. You will stay with your child in the test room. If your other children are older and able to sit quietly apart from you, they will be able to wait outside the testing booth. If more than one child will be tested or other young children will attend, another adult should accompany you to help supervise them. We have a family playroom available for the other children to wait in if you have brought with you additional adult supervision.
How is my child’s hearing tested?
Hearing evaluations are conducted in our office in a large sound-treated room. Our audiologists use play audiometry and engaging visual reinforcements to create a pleasant, successful hearing evaluation. A pediatric audiologist tests a child's hearing by doing different types of tests. The tests that are used depend on the age of the child. A child can be tested for hearing loss at any age, beginning at birth. A child can even be tested when they are asleep in their stroller! Specialized newborn tests use a small soft ear tip placed in the canal for one to two minutes. By six months, hearing can be tested by observing a baby’s responses to sounds through speakers or earphones. Audiologists present sounds and watch for head turns or teach children to respond through simple games. An older child may raise a hand when they hear the sound, much like an adult would be tested. The audiologist may also use specialized equipment to measure your child’s ear responses to sound without requiring active participation. Testing may include evaluations such as Otoscopy, Tympanometry, Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR), Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE), and speech or hearing threshold testing. Depending on your child’s tolerance and results, more than one visit may be needed to complete testing.
What should I bring to make the evaluation easier for my child?
You may wish to bring a favorite toy (quiet one!), blanket or lovey/pacifier and a snack (quiet!) with you to the appointment. Often children will be very happy to enter the test room that we can set up with a booster chair when it is simply looked at as “play time!” or “snack time!”. Parents remain in the test room to quietly comfort or engage their child with small toys or snacks during testing. This keeps children engaged while audiologists observe natural responses, such as head turns, to sounds played through speakers. For a newborn hearing test, you will be given very specific instructions to follow prior to the test date.
What if a problem is identified?
After the testing is completed, the audiologist will review the results and findings with you. For many young children with speech delay, the results end up being normal. If the audiologist determines that a child has hearing loss, he or she will recommend further evaluation and possible treatment. The kind of treatment depends on the type of hearing loss, how severe it is, and the child's other needs. If a medically treatable condition is identified, referral to a physician will be made. Children identified with permanent hearing loss should receive a comprehensive medical and ear evaluation by a pediatric ENT physician. Treatment decisions and options will be made with the family every step of the way.
How much will a session cost?
As part of Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley, we accept private pay, many insurance plans, state programs, and Early Intervention. Many insurance plans require a physician referral before a child can receive services. We help connect families without coverage to assistance programs and flexible payment options.
