Audiology Program

Our program offers comprehensive testing and treatment for children with hearing concerns. Our services include:

Diagnostic Testing

Our team uses several tests to determine the extent and causes of your child’s hearing loss. These tests include:

These tests evaluate how well your brain processes different sounds.

This test measures of the softest sound heard at different pitches.

  • Visual reinforcement audiometry: Most commonly used for testing children ages 6 months to 3 years old. We condition your child to turn toward a sound and then reinforce (reward) them with a light-up toy in response.
  • Conditioned play audiometry: Most commonly used for testing with children ages 3 to 5 years old. We ask your child to complete a simple task (place a toy in a bucket, stack blocks, etc.) when they hear a sound.
  • Conventional audiometry: Most commonly used for ages 5 and older. We ask your child to raise their hand or push a button when they hear a sound.

The BAER study measures how the hearing nerve sends sound signals to the brain. It is painless and helps evaluate hearing function.

We can do this testing during natural sleep when your child is an infant — such as a follow-up after a failed newborn hearing screening. We can also recommend this testing for children over the age of 6 months if they are unable to participate in behavioral testing.

The BAER study requires a child to be asleep to measure the responses accurately. Young children and infants who cannot fall asleep during the study may require general anesthesia for accurate test results. We coordinate your child’s BAER study with other necessary procedures under anesthesia whenever possible. This helps prevent your child from having to undergo anesthesia multiple times.

During the 60- to 90-minute procedure, the audiologist will:

  • Place electrodes on the forehead and near the ears.
  • Use earbuds to deliver sound at various tones and volumes.
  • Record the responses to the different tones.

Your audiologist will meet with you immediately following the study to discuss your child’s results.

This series of simple tests is designed to evaluate how well the balance systems work or function.

Treatment Options

If your child is diagnosed with hearing loss, we work with you to develop a treatment plan that is most appropriate for your child’s hearing condition and developmental age. Our team offers evidence-based treatments for hearing loss, including:

  • Behind-the-ear hearing aids: The hearing aid is programmed to send amplified signals through the patient’s ear to help them hear better. There are many different styles of hearing aids. The most common device for pediatric patients is a behind-the-ear hearing aid with a silicone earpiece in the ear canal.
  • Bone-anchored hearing solutions: This hearing device treats most commonly permanent conductive hearing loss. It sends sounds through the skull to the inner ear through vibration. The device is attached to the head through a headband or surgically implanted magnet or attachment.

A cochlear implant is an electrode surgically implanted into the inner ear and is connected by an external processor on the outside of the head. The electrode stimulates the auditory nerve directly. Our multidisciplinary cochlear implant team will work with your family to determine if this treatment option is a good fit.

This device sends sounds from a microphone, typically worn by a parent or teacher, to a child’s hearing aid, bone-anchored hearing device or cochlear implant to help the child hear in noisy environments.

Other Programs and Resources

The audiology team at Phoenix Children’s leads or partners with many other programs and services to enhance hearing care for your child. These include:

Phoenix Children’s newborn hearing screeners perform state-mandated inpatient newborn hearing screenings at hospitals throughout the Phoenix area. Following the “1/3/6” guidelines, we ensure that newborns receive an initial hearing screening by 1 month of age, diagnostic testing by 3 months if needed and early intervention by 6 months. We also perform outpatient follow-up hearing screenings at various Phoenix Children’s locations. Learn more about newborn hearing screening.

Our team works with Phoenix Children’s ear, nose and throat specialists, psychologists, genetic specialists and speech-language pathologists to offer cochlear implantation services. Phoenix Children’s Cochlear Implant Program provides the support your child needs before surgery and all the way through device activation and monitoring. We partner with speech-language pathologists to offer cochlear implantation for severe to profound hearing loss. Phoenix Children’s Cochlear Implant Program provides the support your child needs before surgery and all the way through device activation and monitoring.

Our pediatric audiology team treats hearing loss with pediatric-friendly hearing aids. Our experts ensure your child’s hearing aids are programmed and functioning appropriately.

Certain medications may be harmful to your child’s hearing. If your child is undergoing a treatment that may impact their hearing, our audiology team will work with your child’s physician, such as their oncologist (cancer doctor) or hematologist (blood doctor), to monitor hearing and perform developmentally appropriate testing throughout your child’s treatment.