Toddler
Play Audiometry: Pure tone audiometry(in free field or under headphones) where a child is conditioned to respond to a sound stimulus by placing a peg in a pegboard or dropping a block in a box or something similar. This assessment also includes the Kendall Toy Test, which helps demonstrate the child’s ability to discriminate sounds of different objects without visual cues.
Bone Conduction Audiometry (B/C): same as A/C but pure tone stimulus bypasses outer and middle ear and stimulates the inner ear and subsequent auditory structures to the cortex. The resulting measurement is the sensori-neural component of the hearing loss (or ‘nerve loss’).
The difference between A/C and B/C is referred to as the air-bone gap or conductive hearing loss.
VRA: Visual Reinforcement Audiometry-in free- conditions the child to associate frequency-specific sounds (500 to 4000 Hz) with a reinforcement visual stimulus such as a lighted animated toy. Minimum response levels are obtained (MRLs).
Speech Audiometry
Tests the ability to perceive and discriminate words; may be affected by dysfunction of the auditory pathway at any level.
Tympanometry
Evaluation of middle ear and Eustachian Function.
School Age
Pure Tone Audiometry: Air Conduction Audiometry (A/C) - measurement of hearing sensitivity to pure tones, usually in the range of 250Hz – 8K Hz. The pure tone signal is detected after it passes through the complete auditory pathway, including outer, middle and inner ear, brainstem, through the brain and auditory cortex.
Bone Conduction Audiometry (B/C): same as A/C but pure tone stimulus bypasses outer and middle ear and stimulates the inner ear and subsequent auditory structures to the cortex. The resulting measurement is the sensori-neural component of the hearing loss (or ‘nerve loss’). The difference between A/C and B/C is referred to as the air-bone gap or conductive hearing loss.
Speech Audiometry
Tests the ability to perceive and discriminate words; may be affected by dysfunction of the auditory pathway at any level.
Tympanometry
Evaluation of middle ear and Eustachian Function.