Category Archives: Audiology

If you’re a parent or caregiver of a child who is experiencing hearing problems, finding the best pediatric audiologist in Kerala can be a daunting task. But with the right information and guidance, you can make the best decision for your child’s hearing health.

The ability to hear is crucial for babies and young children to understand the world around them and develop their own speech. However, hearing problems in young children may not be easily detected and may vary depending on their environment. At Sravana, we offer pediatric audiology services that provide a comprehensive and family-friendly screening, diagnostic, and rehabilitation service for babies and children with hearing difficulties.

Our audiology services begin with hearing screening for all or most babies in the first few days after birth, depending on individual circumstances, allowing early identification and support for children with hearing problems. Our team of experienced and licensed clinical audiologists then performs a children’s hearing test to assess your child’s hearing. Once the impairment is diagnosed, we create a personalized management plan to restore or manage hearing loss to support your child’s development.

For cases requiring surgical management of hearing loss, our pediatric ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists can diagnose and treat hearing loss in children of all ages, from infancy through the teen years. We also use a combination of hearing aids and strategies to manage auditory processing difficulties, helping your child improve speech and language skills, communication, social skills, and overall confidence.

At Sravana, our team is comprised of the best pediatric audiologist in Kerala who understands that a child’s needs are different from an adult’s, and we have the specialized training and expertise to provide the individualized care your child deserves. We offer multidisciplinary, consolidated care at each of our locations, making it easy to manage your child’s care without complicated arrangements and scheduling. We are committed to helping your child hear and communicate, allowing them to thrive and reach their full potential. Contact us today to schedule a pediatric audiology appointment for your child.

Searching for the Best Tympanometry Test in Kerala ? Tympanometry Test can be part of a routine hearing test that measures the hearing capability of your middle ear by measuring the movement of your eardrum. A graph named Tympanogram records the result.

When Would Tympanometry be Needed?

Tympanometry Test is used to help diagnose conditions involving your middle ear that may cause hearing loss. It can help a health care professional decide the root cause of hearing loss. It can also help them determine if you will need a different treatment mode or whether hearing aids will correct your hearing loss.

Tympanometry is often used in children but can be used at any age to determine the hearing pathway from which the hearing loss originates. Young children often develop fluid in their ears that can cause hearing problems if left untreated for a long time.

Who Performs Tympanometry Test in Sravana?

Tympanometry Test in Kerala | Kottayam | Pathanamthitta at Sravana is performed by an expert audiologist. An audiologist is a doctoral level health care provider who helps people with balance issues and hearing loss. They diagnose, prevent and treat hearing related issues affecting both adults and children.

How is Tympanometry Performed?

You will sit upright during the test. Children can sit on their caregiver’s or parent’s lap. It is important to remain still during Tympanometry. Moving, talking, laughing, coughing or swallowing can all interfere with the results?

What are the Risks in Tympanometry Test?

Tympanometry isn’t a risky test and there are usually no side effects. Still, young children may be confused about what is happening during the test.It is a good idea to prepare them beforehand.

What Do My Tympanometry Test Results Mean?

Test results are normal if the eardrum moves normally and there is no fluid in the middle ear and with normal pressure. Abnormal test results show the opposite, if there is fluid in the middle ear, scarring or perforation of the ear drum, earwax, middle ear pressure blocking the ear drum or lack of mobility of the small bones in the ear.

Looking for the Best OAE Test in Kerala? OAE (Otoacoustic Emissions) Test checks part of the inner ear’s response to sound. The test is done on children and infants who may not be able to respond to behavioral hearing tests because of their age. OAE helps in assessing the functional integrity of outer hair cells in the inner ear, Thus OAE’s will be negative for individuals with problems in outer hair cell functioning. It is an important test in assessing hearing in small children and difficult to test among population.

What is Otoacoustic Emission?

Otoacoustic Emissions are sounds emitted by one small part of the cochlea when it is stimulated by soft clicking sounds. When the sound stimulates the cochlea, the outer hair cells vibrate which produces a nearly inaudible sound that echoes back into the middle ear.

How is OAE Performed?

A tiny microphone and earphone are placed in the ear, sounds are played and a response is recorded. If a baby hears normally an echo is reflected into the ear canal which is recorded by the microphone. When a baby faces a hearing loss, no echo or a reduced echo can be recorded on the OAE test.

Why a Pediatric Audiologist Should Test your Child’s Hearing Capability?

Pediatric audiologist are specifically trained clinicians who have expertise in identifying hearing loss in children. A pediatric audiologist will be able to decide which tests are important and perform them with efficiency and accuracy. If a hearing loss is identified, the Pediatric Audiologist will give you information about communication options, hearing loss and other resources.

Your child is not required to sleep while performing this test. However, for this test your child and everyone in the room must maintain silence and sit still. Your child will not feel anything during the procedure.

How long is the Test?

The whole process should only take a few minutes.

OAE Test Results?

The results are either absent or present.

• Present OAE’s are consistent with normal to near normal hearing range.
• Absent OAE’s, may be a sign of problem. It could be hearing loss, fluid or infection in the middle ear, wax in the ears or a malformed inner ear. This indicates that more testing needs to find out why the OAE’s were absent and check out for any possible hearing loss.

Click Here to Book an Appointment with us to perform OAE Test in Kerala | Kottayam | Pathanamthitta   with Sravana.

Pure Tone Audiometry Test in Kottayam | Pathanamthitta is one of the simplest and most common hearing tests, providing valuable information on the hearing. The patient does not need to specifically prepare for the study. PTA is a key hearing test designed to identify hearing threshold of an individual i.e. the minimum volume that the patient hears. PTA uses both air and bone conduction audiometry in a range of frequencies. In other words PTA shows the status of auditory cells in the cochlear part of the ear.

What are the Benefits of PTA Test?

PTA Test can easily enable determination of the type, degree and configuration of a hearing loss problem through audiogram test result graph. Apart from diagnosis, PTA benefits other forms of hearing test like click auditory brainstem response.

How is PTA Performed?

PTA is performed on adults and children old enough to cooperate with the test procedure as it relies on patient response to pure tone stimuli.PTA only measures thresholds or behavioural measurement of hearing threshold.

Due to the need for cooperation of a patient with the audiometrist or hearing care professional, PTA is performed in children over 6 years of age. According to the developmental stage there are other pediatric tests performed in younger children.

Audiometric tests in children above 6 years is a diagnostic test in case of suspicion of hearing disorders, auditory and concentration disorders, speech therapy as well as for control after inflammation or infection of the middle or outer ear and third adenoid’s  diagnostics.

Pure Tone Audiometry Test in Kottayam | Pathanamthitta is completely non-invasive. It is carried out in in special headphones for bone and air conduction, separately for the right and left ear. Each ear receives sounds with certain frequency and volume, while patient is asked to press the button when he hears a stimulus. The test is conducted in cooperation with the patient and allows to pre-determine the depth and nature of hearing loss.

Searching for the best BERA Test clinic in Kottayam | Kerala ? BERA (Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry) Test measures the hearing ability of both adults and infants. It helps to examine the electrical activities and responses of the sound by the brain. BERA Test is normally done on children to check hearing loss as it is essential for the development of language and normal speech.

Ideally BERA Testing should be done in the hospital itself before the baby is discharged. Unfortunately very few clinics and hospitals are able to do this in our state due to lack of equipment and trained personnel. BERA Test are objective and do not require cooperation from the baby.

Why is BERA Test Performed?

BERA Test is an effective screening tool to evaluate deafness in new born babies. The BERA Test monitors the peripheral and central nervous systems and helps to identify the causes of hearing impairment. The suspected demyelinated disorders can be diagnosed by BERA Test.

Who Should Take BERA Test?

The BERA Test examines the electrical signals transmitted to the brain. It is done in the following cases:

• To identify the site of hearing problem.
• It is done as a screening test on children who do not respond to conventional audiometry.
• Asymmetric hearing loss cases: When hearing loss is more in one ear than the other
• It is also done as a screening test for infants who are at a high risk of hearing loss due to head injury, deformities of head and face, concerns about hearing levels in the child, family history of congenital hearing loss.

What is Diagnosed from BERA Test?

BERA Test examines the time taken for an electrical signal to reach from the inner ear to the brainstem. It gives an insight into how our auditory nerve is functioning. The abnormal test indicates cerebrovascular accidents or multiple sclerosis and hearing loss.

Applications of BERA Test

The BERA Test clinic in Kottayam | Kerala is done in various monitoring, screening and testing procedures. Some of them are:

• Selection of fitting and hearing aid in infants.
• Development and surgical fitting of cochlear implants
• Screening of hearing loss in new born babies.
• Monitoring peripheral and central nervous system.