A number of hearing tests have now been carried out on your baby. These tests were carried out by a youth health care or maternity care screener. However, the hearing screening has not established proper hearing in either one or both of your child’s ears, and further testing will be needed. This brochure provides information on the necessary tests.

What do these results mean?
An unsatisfactory result does not necessarily mean that your child is suffering from permanent hearing loss. Your child’s hearing may also be temporarily impaired. This could be caused by the fact that your child had a cold or was restless during testing. However, it is also possible that your child may have permanent hearing loss. At this stage, we cannot be certain whether your child’s hearing is good enough for it to learn how to talk properly.

Follow-up
The screener has arranged with you that more tests are necessary. These will be done at an Audiology Centre. An Audiology Centre is a facility that is specialised in the testing of hearing, speech and language. The centre is sometimes attached to a hospital.

The referral
The screener who carried out the most recent test will talk with you about the referral and about which Audiology Centre your child can go to. He/She will also arrange the appointment, and pass on the information about your child’s hearing test results to the Audiology Centre and to your General Practitioner. Your GP or the doctor at your Well-Baby Clinic will arrange the referral. The screener will give you further information about this. If your GP provides the referral, the Well-Baby Clinic will also be informed about the referral.

What should I do to prepare?
Staff at the Audiology Centre will run a number of tests on your child. These tests are more detailed than the hearing tests, and may take several hours in total. In many cases, the best results can be achieved by waiting until your child is asleep. This is why it is important that you can feed your baby if necessary, and bring along a clean diaper. Do not use any baby oil or lotion in the 24-hour period before testing, as this will make it more difficult for the adhesive pads used during testing to stick. It may not always be possible to complete all the necessary tests in a single session. If this is the case, parents will be asked to bring their child to the centre once more to complete testing.

The results
You received the hearing test results immediately. This is not always the case when it comes to testing at the Audiology Centre. Usually, staff will tell you when you can expect your child’s test results. If not, feel free to ask when you can expect to hear about the outcome.

How much will the tests cost?
The costs of testing at the Audiology Centre will be covered by your care insurer. Health insurance excess does not apply to children

Any questions?
For more information on the hearing tests and studies conducted by the Audiology Centre, visit the RIVM (Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment) website: www.rivm.nl/ gehoorscreening. This site also provides answers to frequently asked questions. If you have any questions regarding follow-up testing, you can also contact the person who referred your child to the Audiology Centre. If you would like more information, you can also call the NSDSK (Dutch Foundation for Hearing Impaired Children): 020 574 5945.

Privacy
The data from your child’s hearing test is retained by your Youth healthcare organisation in an administration system which was specially created for neonatal hearing tests. The aim of this system is to make sure that all children have their hearing tested at the right time and in the right way. The test data may also be used for national statistics and scientific research, but for these purposes the data is anonymised. If data is needed for scientific research and your child’s personal details are required, you will always be asked for your consent first.