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Audiology

Checked: 12-11-2023 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 12-11-2025

Overview

Screening

School entry hearing screening is no longer carried out in BNSSG. This doesn’t reduce the importance of being vigilant and treating concerns about hearing seriously.

Advice for Referrers

The incidence of significant permanent bilateral and unilateral hearing loss at birth is 1.6 : 1000 births. This rises to approx. 2.6: 1000 by the age of 10 years due to acquired hearing loss.

Temporary hearing loss due to otitis media with effusion (glue ear) is very common in pre-school children. This is usually a self- limiting condition that doesn’t require any treatment or intervention. If a parent presents to the GP with concerns about their child’s hearing and the child has had a recent cold or ear infection, the GP should review the child in a few weeks’ time to determine if this is a persistent problem. If the concern about the hearing persists after about 6-8 weeks or so the child should be referred to the paediatric audiology service for a hearing test.

Any child suspected of having developed a unilateral or bilateral permanent hearing loss eg through bacterial meningitis, viral infection, head injury should be referred into paediatric audiology as soon as possible.

GPs and other health professionals can phone the Children’s Audiology Service on: 0117 342 1611 for advice if needed.

Additional information

Please also see the page on Middle Ear Problems

Please see the the information on the UHBW web link: Children's Hearing Centre (UHB).

Contact details: Children's Hearing Centre, Level D, St Michael's Hospital, Southwell Street, Bristol BS2 8EG

Referral

Referrals can be made by GPs, Health Visitors, school nurses, and speech and language services.

Referrals from primary care should be made by email on the referral form (also available in EMIS)

Email to: paediatricaudiologyreferrals@uhbw.nhs.uk

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.