School Hearing Tests

Dear Parents,

When was the last time your child had their hearing tested? As you may be aware, children’s hearing is only screened at birth. Hearing is such an important aspect of life and can dramatically affect a child’s ability to speak, learn, and participate in school. Ears to You is a mobile audiological service provider, with professionally trained hearing specialists. We can attend any school to provide optional hearing assessments. We can provide the following mobile services at the school:

• Otoscopic examination: Visual inspection of the outer ear, checking for foreign bodies such as wax, debris, infections, foreign bodies
• Tympanogram: An objective diagnostic measure to determine if middle ear dysfunction (or glue ear) is present. Middle ear dysfunction/effusion, or glue ear, is a major issue for many children under the age of 7. Tympanograms greatly assist in the diagnosis of conductive hearing losses, which is hearing loss in the outer or middle ear.
• Hearing Screening: Using specialised noise blocking headphones, a series of beeps are presented into each ear, at varying levels, across the critical frequencies for speech and language development. A chart is generated, showing the volume it takes for each ear to hear the tones. It is done in a fun way to optimise your child’s engagement throughout the test.

The entire consult takes roughly 20-30 minutes per child, and should be done regularly, particularly around the change of seasons or post cold symptoms. Detailed reports from the assessment will be provided, and in the event that middle ear dysfunction or hearing loss is detected, the appropriate next steps will be clearly outlined.

Service	Fee per child
Full hearing assessment	$85
Otoscopy and tympanometry screening	$65
Minimum booking number	25 children