Hearing tests for newborn babies and small children. If you suspect deafness in your child, do not underestimate it! Get your child examined immediately!

This is one of the newest hearing examination methods performed mainly on newborn babies and small children to test the state of a child's hearing. We prescribe this method when we are unable to communicate with the patient or his co-operation during the examination makes the results unreliable. The Oto-acoustic Emissions examination is an easy, accurate and quick test which can be performed even with a 2 days old child. In many countries, this examination is already part of a child's first check-up at the hospital. In the Czech Republic, for the time being, it is being performed only at specialized clinics.

Soon after a baby is born it starts to respond to loud noises, unpleasant sounds by crying or to interesting and pleasant sounds by calming down and/or paying attention to the noises. To a sudden noise or sound a child usually reacts by blinking his eyelids. Later, a child develops a so-called “searching reaction.” This reaction occurs during examination when we use toys which make sounds or play music (such as a little trumpet, a rattle, or rubber toys with whistles or bells). At this stage, a child starts to either follow the object or the sound with the eyes or starts turning the head. Children also turn to follow their parents’ voices. A child's own voice, while he is babbling or humming is usually moderately loud and all sounds are melodic. If you are not experiencing these reactions and if these symptoms are missing in your child or if your child's speech is not developing at all, you should consider a more detailed hearing exam such as the measurement of oto-acoustic emissions.

This examination is done via the use of a special small, tipped device with a tiny sensor head. This sensor head is placed on the edge of the patient's ear canal and produces short repeating sounds into the examined ear all the while scanning all sound emissions with a very sensitive microphone.

Oto-acoustic emissions are very faint sounds which originate from a sound received in the inner ear where the movement of the capillary cells produce the first nerve impulses. Oto-acoustic emissions are generated by this movement which return through the small connecting bones and start to oscillate the ear-drum. If the activity of the capillary cells is damaged, there are no emissions being generated and the result is a patient usually suffering from closed ears or deafness.

It is recommended that the testing be performed in a quiet room. Patients (mainly children) can be put to sleep with suitable medication to make sure they will be motionless and that the examination will be completely accurate. However, the best time to examine newborn babies is when they fell asleep naturally.

Before the sensor is inserted, a regular ear examination needs to be performed to ensure that the results cannot be distorted or negatively affected.

Delayed diagnosis of hearing defects can have a very negative impact on a child's speech process and on his whole psychological development.

Measurement of Oto-acoustic Emissions
Performed at Canadian Medical Care