School hearing tests: are they as good as they sound?

PA 283/12 Should every primary school pupil in the UK be given a hearing test and what's the most effective way of doing it? These are questions that a team of academics from Nottingham and Exeter will be tackling as part of a new study. Their research will compare screening programmes in some areas of the country, with areas where no provision currently exists and will establish whether a nationwide approach would be successful — and cost effective — in picking up hearing loss in children aged between four and six years old. The project is being led by Heather Fortnum, an Associate Professor and Reader at The University of Nottingham's School of Clinical Sciences and a senior researcher in the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit in partnership with experts from the University of Exeter Medical School. It has been funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme. Fortnum explained: "While the majority of children starting primary school in the UK are given a test to pick up any potential hearing problems, there is by no means nationwide provision. Where it is in place there is no standardised approach and results can vary dependent on the equipment used and the criteria against which hearing loss is measured. "We hope our research will be successful in establishing which approach is most effective at spotting hearing problems in young children and, for the first time, will also give some prediction on the cost to the NHS per child tested." - Spotting potential problems.