Audiology

Our Audiology Service provides hearing testing services for children from 0 to 16 years of age.

Our services

Our audiology service has two service streams – a diagnostic stream and a hearing screening stream.

Diagnostic Services:

• Our specialist Paediatric Audiologists provide diagnostic hearing testing for babies and children aged 0 to 16 years of age in our sound proof booths at Caboolture Hospital.

• We offer a range of tests, including:
  • Play and Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) testing.
  • Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA) testing.
  • Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) testing.
  • Tympanometry and Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) testing.
• The type of testing performed for each child depends on their age, their abilities, developmental stage and clinical history.
• A referral from a GP or medical professional is needed to access these services.

Community Hearing Screening:

• Our specially trained Clinical Assistants provide hearing screening services for children aged 9 months to 16 years of age in community settings (outside of the hospital), under the supervision of audiologists.
• A referral from a doctor is not needed and parents/carers can refer their own children for hearing screening.
• Hearing screening is currently provided in the following areas:
  • Caboolture
  • Redcliffe
  • Strathpine
  •  
• For further information about the Community Hearing Screening Program.

Who we see

The Caboolture Hospital diagnostic Audiology service provides hearing testing for babies and children:

• Who have been referred from the Healthy Hearing Newborn Hearing Screening Program.
• Who are at risk of developing hearing loss due to their medical history.  This can include:
  • family history of permanent hearing loss.
  • exposure to bacterial meningitis and other infections that are associated with hearing loss, such as cytomegalovirus and rubella.
• Where there are concerns about:
  • their hearing.
  • their speech and language development.
  •  frequent or chronic middle ear infections.
• Who require testing as part of developmental assessments, where there are developmental, emotional/social or behavioural concerns.

Extra information for a successful appointment

• The Audiology clinic runs to schedule and your child will be seen at their booked appointment time.
• So that your appointment can start on time, plan to arrive at the hospital early so you have enough time to:
  • find parking,
  • make your way to the audiology clinic,
  • check in when you arrive and have all of your child’s details confirmed or updated, before your appointment is due to start.
• Late arrival may result in your child’s appointment needing to be rebooked if the test room that was booked for them is no longer available.
• We recommend that you do not bring siblings or other children to audiology appointments, as we need it to be quiet to get accurate results. Please plan for your other children to be cared for safely by another adult.

How to access this service

• To be eligible for this service, children need to:
  • be less than 16 years of age,
  • live in the Caboolture Hospital or Redcliffe Hospital catchment areas, or agreed suburbs from the Prince Charles Hospital catchment area. Please click on this link to check if your suburb is on our catchment area.
  • be referred by a GP or medical specialist.

• The waiting time for an appointment depends on the reason for testing and the availability of appointments.

What to bring

My visit to the Audiologist

My visit to the Audiologist (children aged 3 yrs+)

Please use this video to watch together with your child before their hearing test. It shows a hearing test appointment for a child aged 3 years and up.

Watch the video

Clinics

Frequently asked questions