Paediatric Hearing and Hearing Aid Service
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The paediatric service is for children of all ages and young persons who have suspected hearing problems.
Age-appropriate hearing assessments are as below are carried out by audiovestibular physicians and/or audiologists:
- Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (including use of Frequency filtered stimuli)
- Conditioned Play Audiometry
- Routine Pure Tone Audiometry
- Speech Perception Testing
- Additional objective tests like Auditory Brainstem evoked Response (ABR) Audiometry, Transient Evoked & Distortion Product Oto-acoustic Emissions (TE & DPOAEs), Acoustic Reflexes etc.
The team works closely with ENT (ear, nose and throat) colleagues where surgical intervention is indicated for conditions such as glue ear.
Where the fitting of hearing aids is required, a range of hearing aids are offered, according to the child or young person’s needs. Follow-up care is provided for as long as needed. If indicated, aetiological investigations are also offered to establish the cause of the hearing loss.
The Paediatric Audiology Service works as a team (involving other professionals like hearing support services, etc.) to provide a fully comprehensive service, tailored for an individual child’s needs.
Local and national protocols are closely followed with several audits in place to ensure we meet key performance indicators. Quality of the service is further maintained through active participation in regional peer review groups (such as ABR peer review, VRA peer review and habilitation peer review groups).
Service Information
Services are offered for any borough from where we receive referral for specialist service. The majority of referrals to our service are received from Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton and Kingston boroughs.
We offer supra-specialist (both paediatric audiovestibular physician- and audiologist-led clinics) services.
Children who may require the supra-specialist services include those with:
- Complex needs
- A permanent hearing loss who require aetiological investigation to establish a possible cause
- Balance or dizziness concerns
- Children who have been unable to be assessed by community audiology services”
Appointments for supra-specialist clinics are offered at Lanesborough Wing, St George’s Hospital as well as at Trevelyan House.