What to expect with hearing aids

What is expected of me as a parent?

You should make sure that:

• The hearing aids are worn for all your child’s waking hours
• If there is a faulty or lost hearing aid or ear mould you must contact the department immediately for replacements
• Your child attends all appointments in Hearing Services
• Your child’s hearing aids are brought to every appointment in Hearing Services

How do I get my child to wear their hearing aids?

• Be consistent
• Make it part of your routine, for example, put the hearing aids on as part of dressing your child
• If the hearing aids are removed put them back in. If your child becomes upset give them a quick break from wearing the hearing aids and then put them back in
• Dedicate some time each day to play, talk, or read a book with your child whilst they are wearing their hearing aids. They will quickly associate their hearing aids with a fun activity

If you have any questions or are struggling to get your child to wear the hearing aids please contact the department, do not wait until your appointment.

Data logging on hearing aids 

All hearing aids are able to record how your child uses their hearing aids. This provides important information to help us set your child’s hearing aids.

It only tracks

• how long the hearing aids have been worn as an average per day
• what type of environment they have been used in, for example, always in a loud environment

If you want this deactivating on your child’s hearing aids please let your audiologist know.

What is expected from Hearing Services?

Your child’s hearing aids are provided free on loan, for as long as they need them, but they remain the property of the NHS. We will repair or replace aids free of charge if they go wrong. However, there may be a charge if they are damaged or lost through frequent neglect.

We aim to provide:

• replacement hearing aids within 3 to 5 working days
• replacement ear moulds within 5 working days after impressions were taken
• items such as batteries and tubing within 2 working days

We will see your child after diagnosis regularly for hearing aid reviews. This may be every 3 months until you and your child have stable hearing aid use then move to every 6 months until they attend school.

Who is in the team?

We are a busy department but will always aim to have 2 highly qualified audiologists for each appointment, when your child is school aged they might only be seen by 1 audiologist. We also have students and assistant audiologists within the team who might be part of your child’s appointment.

Each newly identified baby with a hearing loss will be allocated a key worker within the department. The key worker might not see your child at every appointment but they will keep up to date with your child’s hearing loss and hearing aid care. If you have any questions please contact the department and ask to speak to your key worker who will get back in touch to discuss your problems.

When your child starts school they will no longer have a key worker as their care within Hearing Services will be reduced from every 6 months to annual reviews but we have strong links with the teachers of the deaf who will see your child at school and share information with them to help your child’s hearing development.