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Visiting an Audiologist

Visit an audiologist to see if your child needs a hearing test.

What an audiologist can do for your child

Test your child's hearing
- Your child may need many different tests if the results of the first test aren't clear.
Help your child get hearing aids
- He'll tell you what kind of hearing aids will help your child the most.
- He'll make molds of your child's ears.
  This helps him order hearing aids that fit comfortably.
- Many audiologists can lend you hearing aids until you get your own.
- He can help you apply for insurance to help pay for the hearing aids.
Help take care of your child's hearing aids

Keep track of your child's hearing
- He can see if your child's hearing gets better or worse. This helps him get the best hearing aid for your child as she grows.
- Babies and toddlers: See the audiologist every 6 months.
- Older children: See the audiologist once a year.
Give you information
- He may tell you to call someone in your state, county or school district to find out what programs are near you.
- He may tell you about schools and other programs near you.
- He may put you in touch with other parents of children with hearing loss.
- He may tell you about different ways to communicate with your child

Remember!

You make decisions for your child. The audiologist only gives you information about your choices. Here's how to work with him:

Where to find an audiologist
Audiologists work in many different places:

How to find a good audiologist
There are many different audiologists. Find a good one for your child.
Here's how:

To make sure you're getting the best audiologist for your child:

Ask the audiologist if he's worked with young children before.
- Many audiologists work with older people.
- Try to get a pediatric audiologist. This kind of audiologist works with children. He'll have the right equipment to test young children.
Ask if he's certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
- ASHA is a group for audiologists and speech and language pathologists.
- ASHA gives audiologists a certificate of clinical competence for audiology (CCC-A) after they pass a test and get some experience.
Ask if he's allowed to work as an audiologist.
- In some states, audiologists need a license to practice.

Learn more

Find out how an educational audiologist could help your child.
Ask questions of audiologists, and read answers online at
Ask an Audiologist on the American Academy of Audiology's website.
Visit the Hearing Assesment page at www.asha.org to find out more about how the audiologist checks your child's hearing loss.