Hearing Tests For Children

Hearing tests for children are just as varied as are the conditions and dysfunctions related to hearing impairment. These tests are especially designed for certain reactions, certain type of reactions, or for examining the status of particular parts of the auditory system, such as the inner ear or the eardrum. Children’s hearing tests are sometimes a sophisticated process and quite often require the combined efforts of a multi-disciplinary host of specialists to form evaluations from a multitude of perspectives.

Among the many disciplines involved in the hearing evaluations of children are: pediatricians, doctors who specialize in the physiological development of children until about the age of twelve or thirteen; otolaryngologists, basic health-related doctors that deal with issues associated with the “ears, nose, and throat” regions; speech pathologists, who also can assess how inner ear functions affect speech; educators, those who can provide evaluations on cognitive development; behavioral specialists, who interpret different forms of behavior in children in relation to their respective ages and physiological constitution; occupational and physical therapists, those who work with the external aspects related to the development of children’s responses; ophthalmologists, or eye doctors, who can discern how inner ear activity influences ocular behavior; and the parents, who know their children better than anybody and can offer personal insight and emotional support to their children during examination periods.

As for the hearing examinations, they begin in the hospital right after birth. Behavioral Observation Assessment (BOA), Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR), and Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) are all means of testing hearing capacity in newborns. The first type of exam merely measures the level of hearing through bodily response, such as eye reaction, movement or stillness, and sucking rate, while the second and third measure nerve-related, or electrophysiological, reactions to hearing while the child is asleep and not conscious of what is happening. Earphones and Conditioned Play Audiometry are employed when children are older, between two and four years, who can provide reactions characterized as turning toward a sound and/or coordinating light source. For older kids and even adults, the Traditional Standard Audiometry features a “press-the-button” or “raise-the-hand” response to a test tone given off in a variety of pitches and intensity levels in either ear. This last one is probably the most common for those who are old enough to understand the significance and purpose of the test.

Tympanometry or Acoustic Immitance Testing is unique in that it not only establishes what’s going on in the middle ear—including the eardrum (the tympanic membrane)—but also diagnoses dysfunctional problems within that area. Because of the inner ear’s unseen location, special training is required for this kind of examination.