Children's Audiology

The children’s audiology service provides:

  • Hearing assessments for children
  • Hearing aids for children

The clinics are staffed by clinical scientists and audiologists. We aim to see all children within six weeks of receiving the referral.

Clinic locations

Hearing assessments for children take place at the locations listed below. Please check your appointment letter to confirm which clinic location you should attend. 

  • Andover War Memorial Hospital
  • Eastleigh Health Centre
  • North Hampshire County Hospital, Basingstoke
  • Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester
  • Alton Community Hospital (school age only)

We try to offer appointments at the clinic closest to your home. However, you may be offered an appointment elsewhere if special test equipment is needed or in order to prevent a long wait.

If you would like your appointment to be rescheduled to a more convenient location, please contact us using the telephone number on your appointment letter.

Children can be referred for a hearing test for a variety of reasons:

  • A health professional may have requested a hearing test
  • The newborn hearing screening team may have suggested a follow-up appointment
  • Your child may not have passed their routine hearing test at school
  • If your child may need speech and language therapy, it is routine to check his/her hearing first.

It is important that you keep this appointment because poor hearing can delay your child’s development. Even a mild hearing problem can have an impact on the development of speech, attention, behaviour and early literacy skills.

It is difficult, as a parent, to be sure how well your child is hearing. Sometimes they may seem to hear better than at other times. If you feel your child has selective hearing or ignores you, it could be because they haven’t heard.

A first appointment usually lasts about 20 to 30 minutes. Longer appointments are needed for newborn babies or for children with hearing aids. At the appointment you will be asked some questions about your child’s hearing, their development, and their health. We will then use a sequence of listening tests or games to assess their hearing.

All children aged over 6 months will need to be awake for their hearing assessment. Younger babies should be asleep if possible. The results will be explained to you at the end of the session. Please feel free to request a written copy of the results.

The room must be quiet for the hearing test. If your child has young brothers or sisters, it would be helpful if you could arrange care for them so that they do not have to attend the clinic.

Please visit the website of the National Deaf Children’s Society for further information about childhood hearing assessment and the tests that are used.

If you have any questions about the appointment arrangements, please contact us using the details on your appointment letter.

Please note that if you are unable to attend the appointment, but do not let us know in advance, you will not be offered another appointment without a new referral.