This page explains what you and your child can expect at your audiology appointment:
How do I get an appointment?
Once your referral has been accepted, you will receive a phone call to arrange a convenient time for your child's appointment. If you miss a call from our service, please call the appointments line on 020 3049 8592.
Confirmation of your appointment, along with a map of the clinic location will be sent to you by post, or via email if requested. You will also receive a text message reminder before your appointment.
Please check the clinic location on your appointment letter carefully. You can also find information about where to find our clinics on the community services page.
Changing or cancelling your appointment
If you need to change or cancel your child’s appointment for any reason, please call the appointments line on 020 3049 8592.
Please tell us as soon as possible so we can offer the appointment to another patient.
Before Your Appointment
It may be helpful to watch our video’s so that you and your child know what to expect in your audiology appointment. You can watch the video about your baby’s hearing test if bringing your newborn. Hospital visits can be difficult for some children, you can watch our video about your visit to children’s audiology with your child to help prepare them for their appointment.
If your child is attending our Hummingbird clinic, you will be asked a series of questions over the phone at the time of booking to help prepare the room for you and your child’s appointment. Along with the videos, we will also provide you with a story booklet 'I’m having my hearing checked at hospital’. This booklet explains what will happen on the day of your visit to the clinic using a clear written explanations and symbols to support the story. We recommend that you read the story booklet with your child every day for a least a week leading up to the day of your appointment.
If you as the parent or legal guardian are unable to bring your child to an appointment, please give the family member or carer who is bringing them a letter with your written consent.
Young adults over the age of 16 can attend their appointment alone.
During your appointment
What happens during your appointment may vary on their age and the appointment type they are attending, please see the information below to help you know what to expect from the appointment:
Most preschool aged children are seen by two audiologists. We will play some games with your child in order to test their hearing. We may also use some automatic tests.
Some children have their hearing tested using listening games – this is called play audiometry. For more information on how to prepare your child for this type of test, please watch our video about practicing for a hearing test.
We often use headphones to find out more about your child's ears so it is helpful for you to practice using headphones with your child at home before your appointment with us.
If your child has any favourite toys, games or television shows, please let us know as we may be able to use these during the appointment.
If your child has hearing aids, please bring them to every appointment.
Most school aged children will be seen by one audiologist. Usually we will ask your child to wear headphones and press a button when they hear a sound.
You may find it useful to talk with your child about their hearing before the appointment to help them think of anything they may want to tell us, or any questions they may want to ask.
If your child has hearing aids, please bring them to every appointment.
We offer specialist individualised hearing assessments to children with social communication disorders, including autistic spectrum disorder or other complex needs.
Our innovative hearing service includes:
- a child-friendly waiting room and specialised children's audiological booth
- modified hearing assessments which may include the use of familiar music or other sounds and familiar visual rewards
- the use of iPads/tablets for our hearing assessments
We ask parents/carers to complete questionnaires before the appointment to make sure we can design the appointment to suit the needs of your child.
Please also watch our video with your child prepare for their appointment.
We may use other visual support materials, such as Now and Next cards and a visual timetable to increase understanding and decrease anxiety. These materials allow your child to understand what will be happening to them at their clinic visit.
The Hummingbird Clinic is the only service of its kind in London and was made possible by a £200,000 grant from Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity
If we have been unable to assess your child’s hearing through our behavioural assessment, we may refer them for auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing under sedation.
If your child is booked for this appointment, please ensure you child follows the fasting guidelines below:
- No food 6 hours prior to the sedation
- No breast milk 4 hours prior to the sedation
- No water 2 hours prior to the sedation.
Please see the auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing with sedation leaflet (359Kb) for further information.
'Transition' is how we describe the gradual process of transferring you from our audiology service at Evelina London, to adult services if you wear hearing aids. We will start discussing and preparing you for transition to adult audiology from 14 years old, transition will usually happen from 18 years old, or when you leave school. If you do not wear hearing aids your care will be transferred back to your GP or you may be referred to another specialist service if your require some support when doing your hearing test.
Throughout transition we'll discuss your understanding of your hearing loss and hearing aids and ensure that you're confident managing your hearing aids independently.
We'll discuss your plans for education and/or work and provide information including suggesting organisations that help with assistive technology, social support, benefits and more.
We'll discuss which adult audiology department you would like to be referred to. It's important to think about where you will be living, working and/or studying over the next few years so that we can refer you to the right service. If you are staying local to where you currently live, depending on where that is, we will likely refer you to Guy’s, Lewisham or St George’s Hospital.
At your final appointment with us, you'll have a hearing assessment and your hearing aids and hearing aid settings will be checked. We'll also take impressions for new earmoulds and we can give you any hearing aid supplies that you may need. Once you have had your final appointment with us, you will need to contact adult audiology if there are any concerns with your hearing, hearing aid(s) or to request supplies.
We'll send a report to your new department explaining your hearing loss, hearing aid settings and any other information such as whether you need an interpreter.
Contacts
Guy's audiology
Tel: 020 7188 2211
Text: 07734 980 844
Email: audiologyappointments@gstt.nhs.uk
Lewisham audiology
Tel: 020 8333 3000 extension 8132
St Georges audiology
Tel: 020 8266 6363
Tel: 020 8725 1122
Email: audiologist.appointments@stgeorges.nhs.uk