Below, you will find some of the most common questions we receive from families of children with hearing loss. Please feel free to call with other questions or ask an audiologist or listening and spoken language clinician during your appointment.
At your first appointment, your baby will see an audiologist and a speech-language pathologist. The audiologist will look into your baby’s ears with an otoscope and then place a small, soft probe in the ear to examine the eardrum and measure the reflex to a sound that is played. With a small, soft probe placed in the ear, the audiologist will look at echoes made by the inner ear. Depending on the age of the child, a speech-language pathologist may play listening games with your child in a sound-treated room to assess his or her response to soft-level sounds.
No, the hearing tests and procedures provided at Hearts for Hearing are not painful. Some babies and children who have had frequent ear infections may be fearful of having another doctor look in their ears. We use bubbles, fun toys, and lots of smiles as distractions for each child to be as content as possible during testing.
The amount of time needed to test your child will depend on your child’s age and what tests the audiologist determines necessary. Typically, the first appointment lasts about one hour for preschool children and about three hours for infants between the ages of 0 to 5 months.
Yes, a complete list of the insurances we are in network with can be found on our resources page.
If your child has hearing loss, the audiologist will explain the details and develop a plan for moving forward. That plan may include more audiology testing, medical referrals, or possibly hearing aids.
The cost of hearing aids should not limit a child from being able to learn to listen and talk. Therefore, Hearts for Hearing provides the first set of hearing aids to all newly diagnosed infants and children up to age 11 in Oklahoma at no cost to the family. Visit our financial assistance page to learn more about the help we can offer.
Hearts for Hearing was founded in 2003 with a mission of providing hearing technology and speech therapy services at no out-of-pocket costs to families with children who were born deaf. 20 years later, we are still teaching babies and children born deaf to listen and talk. Our services have expanded to include adult hearing care with offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Shawnee. Our team of professionals has grown from our original three people to 117 now. Hearts for Hearing continues to provide the first set of hearing technology and therapy to children at no out-of-pocket costs to families, and now includes Newborn Hearing Screen services, major research initiatives, Eyes Open Ears On programming, and its own 3D ear mold lab.