Professional Audiology Center Pediatrics

Good hearing in children is essential to normal child development. Undetected and untreated, hearing loss can lead to delayed speech and language development, social and emotional problems and academic failure. Here at Professional Audiology Center, we can evaluate children of all ages and provide follow-up and rehabilitative services as well as academic recommendations. The practice is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation and staffed by licensed and experienced audiologists. Audiologic evaluations are individually tailored to the age, ability and disposition of each child. A description of test procedures follows.

Otoacoustic Emissions and Auditory Brainstem Response Audiometry (0-6 months):

ABR: Electrophysiological testing of the auditory system used to assess hearing thresholds and measure overall hearing acuity. The test requires the child to rest quietly throughout the test.
OAE: Records a "cochlear echo" in response to test signal providing information on the integrity of hair cell function. Child can rest quietly throughout the test.

Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (6-24 months):

VRA: Evaluates the ability to localize to pure tones, sound effects and monitored voice in a sound field. Responses are closely observed as sounds are presented. When the child localizes the sound, a mechanical toy is presented to reinforce the response and condition the child to turn to the sound.

Play Audiometry (2-5 years):

The child puts an object in a receptacle, such as a peg in a pegboard, as a response to hearing a tone. This is a fun game for the child and can provide threshold information for each ear. When testing speech audiometry at this age, the child may be asked to point to a picture of an object.

Routine Pure tone and Speech Audiometry (5+ years):

Conventional testing techniques are used at this age. The child indicates he hears a tone by raising his hand as a response. For speech audiometry, words are repeated.

Referrals:

Any neonate who meets any risk criteria (family history, congenital infections, craniofacial anomalies, low birth weight, ototoxic medications, meningitis, mechanical ventilation lasting 5 days or longer) should be evaluated. Older children should be referred if the parent or caregiver has any concern regarding hearing, speech, language and/or developmental delay or if there is recurrent or persistent otitis media with effusion for more than 3 months.