If your child has failed a hearing screen or you're concerned that he or she has hearing loss, you want to know what's wrong — and how to make it better. At the Pediatric Diagnostic Audiology Service at Tufts Medical Center, we can help with your child's hearing and communication challenges.
Our licensed audiologists conduct a variety of diagnostic tests to assess hearing. After determining the degree and type of hearing loss, we discuss the results with you and other physicians involved in your child's care. We then provide further audiological management, such as fitting of hearing aids and/or assistive listening devices at this facility.
At your first visit, your audiologist reviews your child's medical history and examines his or her ears. Next, we perform a comprehensive hearing evaluation, often times to rule out hearing loss as a contributing factor in developmental delay.
Depending on your child's age, these diagnostic tests may include:
Our audiologists work with Tufts Medical Center pediatric otolaryngologists and serve a diverse patient population with complex medical histories. This vast experience gives us an edge over audiology programs that typically deal with less complicated cases.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has identified our Audiology Department as a Level I audiologic diagnostic center, meaning we can provide some services that other facilities cannot. For example, we specialize in difficult-to-test populations and unique cases, such as auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD).
To ensure appropriate management of hearing loss, we maintain regular communication with:
When necessary, we can call on the expertise of colleagues who specialize in implantable hearing devices and in pediatric cleft lip and palate. We can also refer you to colleagues in the Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose & Throat) Division for additional medical management.
If your child is a patient here, you can count on receiving individualized care — and never feeling like a number.
We value our relationships with referring physicians and will share your patient's test results with you along with our recommendation regarding future audiological care.
