Pediatric Hearing Assessment

Abstract

This chapter outlines the methods of hearing assessment that are appropriate for children from birth to adolescence. The importance of timely referral of children with suspected hearing loss for a full hearing assessment cannot be overemphasized. This can be accomplished in a screening and/or a diagnostic hearing assessment. The audiogram is the true measure of threshold sensitivity and is considered the “gold standard” for hearing assessment. Hearing in children can be assessed from an extremely young age. A reasonable assessment of hearing is now possible in children using physiologic assessment tools including otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), evoked potentials, and tympanometry. Behavioral audiologic assessment can include visual response audiometry, conditioned play audiometry, conventional audiometry, speech audiometry, speech reception thresholds, or speech discrimination testing. Test batteries consisting of a number of assessment tools are used to make a diagnosis of hearing loss and identify a probable site of lesion. No single tool can provide all of that information. Hearing thresholds can range from normal (air conduction better than 15 dB at all frequencies) to a profound loss (one or more thresholds at 80 dB or more) and can be conductive, sensorineural, or mixed.