Audiology films

Specialist: Following the newborn hearing screen, your baby has been referred for a highly specialist hearing test at St Thomas' Hospital.

The hearing test is called an Auditory Brainstem Response or ABR and it is the most effective way to test your baby's hearing.

The appointment is booked for an hour and a half to allow time for your baby to settle as they need to be asleep for the test.

It’s a good idea to bring along anything that may help your baby settle, like additional bottles, a swaddling blanket or a dummy.

You are welcome to bring a family member or friend with you to help, and it's important to arrange childcare for your other children as the testing room needs to be quiet.

I'm going to ask you some questions about your pregnancy and birth history.

Did you have any complications at all when you were pregnant? No.

And during the birth, did he need any special care afterwards? No.

If your baby spent some time in hospital, especially if they were in special care, please bring a copy of their discharge summary.

To get your baby ready for the test I'm going to put this paste on his forehead and behind each of his ears.

Please try and avoid using any oils or cream on your baby on the day of the appointment to make sure the sticky pads make good contact with their skin.

The hearing test works by playing sounds through some little earphones and recording the responses from your baby’s hearing nerves.

The audiologist will be looking at these responses on a computer screen.

Although we may not be able to tell you very much during the test, we will explain the results at the end of the appointment and will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Lots of babies are found to have satisfactory hearing and do not need any more appointments.

Some babies are found to have a temporary hearing loss, often because of congestion (sometimes called glue ear) and may need to be seen again when they are a little older.

However some babies are found to have a permanent hearing loss, either in one or both ears.

In these cases it may take a few ABR appointments to get a complete set of results.

Whatever the outcome of the hearing test, we will make sure that you have all of the information, help and support that you need right from the start.

If you have any other questions about the information in this video please do not hesitate to contact us.

Patient: Today I am going for my hearing check at St Thomas' Hospital. Follow me!

We walk through the hospital, sometimes it can be a bit busy, but that's okay because I'm with my Mum.

We look for the big letter and get in the lift to go up to the second floor.

We go into the waiting room and tell the lady on reception my name.

Now I get to play with the toys or look at the books while I'm waiting for my turn.

That's me! My Mum has to answer some questions, but I get to play with more toys. It's great!

They look in my ears with a special torch. Sometimes it's a bit tickly!

Next they put a tip in my ear and it draws a picture on the computer.

My ears are very clever. Now it's time for my favourite bit. I get to play some listening games.

I have to listen hard for all of the sounds.

It's good that my baby brother isn't here. He would make lots of noise and it would be hard for me to listen to all of the sounds.

Babies don't know how to play the listening game like me.

When they come for the hearing check, they have to listen for all of the sounds and they turn to see their favourite characters!

Older children do a different type of hearing test.

They have to press a button every time they hear a sound.

I love playing all the games at the hospital!

Quinn (patient): I love playing the listening games at the hospital. My favourite one is the boat game.

When I hear a sound [BEEP], I have to jump the person in the boat.

Specialist: Well done Quinn! Get your next man ready. Let's listen again, listening for a quiet sound.

[BEEP]

Good job! Super listening!

And this time Quinn, we're going to listen for a squeaky sound. Let's get ready to listen.

[BEEP]

Can I get a high five?

And this time Quinn, we're going to listen to some rumbly noises.

[BEEP]

Good job! Well done Quinn! For the next game we're going to wear some headphones.

We're going to listen, we're going to wait,

[BEEP]

You're right! When our noise comes on the stick we go.

Which one is next?

You're having the green one, and I'll have this green one. Ready, so we listen, and we wait...

[BEEP]

Good waiting Quinn, well done! Good job!

[BEEP]

There's your noise. Good job!

Next, we are going to pop on my special listening headband.

When our noise comes we can jump our balls onto the stick.

[BEEP]

Good job!

Which one next?

Okay, get the white ball ready. Listen for another noise.

[BEEP]

All by yourself! Well done! Good job!

All done.

Quinn: Sometimes waiting and listening for the sound is hard.

We can play the 'Ready, Steady, Go!' game anywhere, anytime. [Hold a piece of lego to your ear and then take it down and stack it on the 'Go']

Quinn's Mum: Ready... Steady... Go!

Well done! Shall we do another one?

Ready... Steady... Go! Well done!

Ready... Steady... Go!

Quinn: I like looking in my teddy's ears.

[Text] Practising 'Ready, Steady... Go!' games at home and looking into each others' ears may help your child prepare for their hearing test.

Patient: Today, I'm going to have new impressions done for my ear moulds. Let me show you how it's done.

First, they use a special torch to look inside my ears.

Then they put a sponge in my ear.

It's a bit tickly.

Now it's time for the gooey putty.

One scoop pink, one scoop white.

She mixes it all together, and then it's squirted into my ear.

I have to stay nice and still. It feels a bit cold and squishy.

We have to wait until it's gone hard, to make sure it comes out a good shape.

It's time to take it out!

That's better.

Wow, look at the shape of my ear!

Now I get to choose the colour of my new ear mould.

Today I'm going to choose a glittery one.

All finished!

My impression gets sent to the ear mould factory.

When it's made it will come in the post!

When I was a baby and growing really quickly.

I needed impressions every three weeks.

Now I'm older, I only need them every six months.

Specialist: It's really important to have good ear moulds so that the hearing aids don't whistle, and so that children can hear everything around them.

Specialist: Everybody has earwax and it is essential to protect the ear canal from infection.

Sometimes people produce too much earwax and in those instances we might have to remove it, as the ears can feel blocked or they feel they're not hearing as good as they normally would hear.

When you have problems with your ears you might be referred to Evelina London Children's Hospital.

When you come for your appointment you can bring all your family with you.

We're very friendly and we will make you feel comfortable and safe.

We have a microscope which we use to examine your ears and that's connected to a TV, so your family can see your ears being examined and wax being removed while they're with you at the appointment.

If we find you have wax in your ears, which is causing a problem, we will remove it.

We might remove this using a microsuction machine, it doesn't hurt and it's just a noisy tickle in the ears.

It'll be noisy, I'm not gonna hurt you or anything, and you can tell me to stop at any time, alright, put your hand up and just tell me to stop, and try not to move.

Alright, you ready? The machine tickles your ear and sucks out the wax, very similar to how a hoover would work. Look at that!

Patient: Feels nice!

Specialist: We might also use a little spoon that was made specially for the ears. Doesn't hurt, just a little tickle in your ear alright. And this just tickles out a little bit of wax or debris that you might have in the ears.

Sometimes the wax is very hard and we will use an olive oil spray to soften it in clinic.

If you find that you do suffer with wax buildup, the most important thing is not to fiddle with your ears, so you must never clean your ears using a cotton bud or stick anything in your ears.

Don't even do that, alright, so no fiddling at all.

The minute you feel itchy, one spray of the olive oil spray once a week in both ears can help reduce the amount of wax you build up and also help to control any itching.

Thank you for coming guys. Wasn't so bad was it?

Patient: No.

Patient: what makes children audiology special?

Jolanta: the people

Parent: the people

Kirsten: definitely the people

Patient: they're really friendly and they have the best toys!

Patient [using sign language]: world-class facilities

Patient: without them I wouldn't be able to hear.

Patient: Without this place I wouldn't hear very properly.

Jolanta, children’s audiology: The children and young people's audiology centre is one of the largest in England, serving six London boroughs. We are based at St Thomas' hospital in our purpose-built department where we provide an innovative, family-centred audiology service. We recognise that every child, young person and their family is unique and treated individually. Twenty specialist audiologists work across four different clinic sites, conducting approximately nine thousand appointments per year.

Michelle, children’s audiology: At St Thomas' we work closely with a wide range of other professionals, including specialists teachers, speech and language therapists, paediatricians and ear nose and throat specialists.

Amanda, children’s audiology: The Hummingbird clinic provides specialist hearing assessments for children with autism and complex needs. Each appointment is tailored to the needs of the individual child using information from the parents about their child's likes and dislikes, their interests and motivators and their favourite toys and music. We are able to really personalise the appointments for each child. We have a range of music from popular TV shows, nursery rhymes and other environmental sounds which we can use to modify the hearing assessment. 

Kerri, children’s audiology: The team are always open to new ways of working and conducting our clinics. We have been involved in research and trials to provide virtual appointments via the internet. A lot of work has also gone into supporting our patients when they transition from primary school to secondary school, or on to an adult audiology service. Our team will always ensure each of our patients is well prepared for their next steps.

Kirsten: We have an ongoing wish to be always improving and evolving based on scientific evidence and patient feedback.

Parent: The consistency of staff are fantastic. So the team that diagnosed Stefan at birth is still here. And I know that I can also drop a direct email or I can make a direct phone call if I need any advice or any help. Everyone has been super supportive. They really understand children's audiology which is the most important thing. You really feel, as well, that your child's an individual, and everyone makes a real fuss of them when they come, which is lovely.

I have severe hearing loss, I wear hearing aids in both ears, since I was a baby. To be honest I just had to get on with it you know, there's no point being down about it. Just being happy every day and doing what I love.

At the age of 12 I got told I was deaf and I thought it was the end of the world.

It was actually someone in my primary school who realised that I was deaf and said to my mum, "I think your daughter's deaf" and my mum was like "no, no she's not". So... Doctor to doctor and they actually said yes "your daughter is deaf".

I used to lip-read when they were doing hearing tests and I used to basically fake the results so my hearing was fine. But I knew I was deaf, I just was in denial to myself that I was deaf.

It feels really weird, you feel different from other people, you look different, you sound different. You just feel different in general but the fact is, you're special.

St Thomas' was, well they've been really great, they made me see a light through the end of the tunnel. The audiology team always sees me on time and the appointments are always quick if they need to be. Or if I need to talk about something they always resolve the problem.

This is my hearing aid and it doesn't really affect me, it's not an issue, it's just something that I've got used to wearing. I can't not wear it.

Playing sport is not a problem, I can run, I can play rugby.

They don't hurt me, they're comfortable. You take them out at bedtime.

And change the battery every two weeks. I'd say to a parent who's just come in with a deaf baby, don't worry nothing is going to stop your child with their life, nothing is going to stop them from living an ordinary life with ordinary friends.

Let them know that you're there. Try your best to communicate with them. I would say learn sign so that they can feel accepted as well into the family if it's only them that's deaf. Treat them normally, don't even think that their hearing is going to make them different.

There's always something to look forward to: whether it's getting a new hearing aid to be able to hear better or just the simple perks of having the microphone in the classroom to help you hear better or Bluetooth so you can connect them up to your phone through the loop system.

I'm in year 12, first year of sixth form, I'm currently studying law, media and geography.

I'm 17 and I'm studying A levels, I'm doing four. Maths, physics, psychology and PE.

Don't worry, you know you will have a fun life and don't let it bother you. Just fit in with everyone else and be happy most importantly.

Don't feel afraid, be special.

There's nothing to hold you back in life at all.

This is Harry and this is Freddie, they were born at 24 weeks. Harry came out first and Fred came second. Both of them needed a lot of care and support and once they were discharged they both needed their audiology checks to be done because they both had little problems that showed up.

If your child is diagnosed at birth you also have the rush of hormones that you have when you’ve’ first given birth, so it’s quite natural, to perhaps have a little cry and worry about what the future holds. But actually, if you get to know the deaf community, if you get to know other deaf children, if you speak to teachers of the deaf, and obviously the audiology team here, they will help you understand that your child is going to be absolutely as perfect as the moment they were born. Their deafness really shouldn’t be an issue if you manage it well.

We tend to think that we hear with our ears. But actually, we hear with the brain. Our ears are only helping us to get the information about sound to the brain. We can think of ears as a doorway and so we can think of hearing loss as a ‘doorway problem’, because the ears are the doorway to the brain for sound information. The doorway can be open or closed a little or a lot, which means that sound information is not reaching the brain clearly.

If we want a child to use spoken language to communicate, we need to open up the ear doorway. Modern technology, such as hearing aids, is designed to open up this doorway in order to deliver sound information to the brain. The brain responds to the information that gets delivered. Better quality information means stronger pathways develop in the brain.

Don’t underestimate the children. Sometimes they are stronger than we think. They are proving us that they can just adjust to the new changes of their lives. Their life can be beautiful, as normal as they want it.

A child learns how to speak based on what they can hear. We know from studies that early diagnosis and assistance from technology is essential to ensure the best outcome. Wearing technology helps to build the brain’s foundation for listening and spoken language and so should be used as much as possible. We are aiming for at least 10 to 12 hours a day.

He can hear better with his hearing aids, so we are very strict about his hearing aid wearing, and he has them on from the moment he gets dressed in the morning, till the moment he goes to bed. And you can’t lie because the audiologists test it when you come into the hospital.

He wears his hearing aids every day. And as soon as they go in you notice the difference: he starts smiling and talking and paying attention to what’s going on.

It’s important to talk with your child as much as possible. Your child’s brain needs to be activated, stimulated and developed with as much spoken language as possible. Reading aloud to your child helps with their language, literacy and reading development.

Children who are read to regularly show gains of more than twice as many new words. Singing with your child is a wonderful workout for their entire brain. They will love your voice no matter how it sounds. Singing to them teaches them how to hear and understand different sounds as well as rhythm. Above all else, play and have fun with your child.

Don’t panic. Don’t worry too much about it. You’re surrounded by audiologists and special teachers, who come and talk to you about everything you’d be worried about. There’s so many people, who’ve been through exactly the same thing that you’re going through. I found that everyone had the same worries. The same concerns, the same problems trying to keep the hearing aids in. I went online, I went on Facebook and Instagram and I found other people with the same stories. And you can ask them questions, they’re full of advice and helpful tips. And we’re lucky that we get so much support and people come to the house, there are special schools. There are signing clubs that you can join and singing clubs you can join especially for people that have got hearing loss. And you’re never on your own, basically. You’ve always got someone to help.