Audiology Clinic

The staff that make up our audiology clinic are experienced in assessing and rehabilitating children and young people with hearing impairment, auditory processing issues and sound sensitivity. They are also accustomed to working with autism and hearing loss, as well as auditory processing issues caused by multi-sensory impairment or other complex needs.

Our audiology clinic

Seashell’s audiology clinic houses up-to-date objective and behavioural audiological test equipment. We also have a designated listening room for those students who cannot tolerate a clinical environment, which is particularly relevant for autism and hearing loss. 

Our audiologists have an in-depth understanding of our students’ complex needs and supporting people with learning disabilities. They therefore understand that  many of our children may not be able to give consistent behavioural responses to sound and require audiology input in a carefully managed environment in order to address their auditory processing issues.

Sessions at our audiology clinics

Our audiology clinics include a selection of activities and strategies:

• Clinical sessions can involve familiarisation visits and regular appointments, allowing the audiologist time to build up a clear picture of listening repertoires and hearing abilities.
• Targeted methods that acknowledge difficulties that can arise in relation to autism and hearing loss thanks to expert audiologists and bespoke treatment plans, with the help of assistive technology for students with disabilities.
• Audiology assessments are performed using a wide range of diagnostic objective and subjective test measures. These measures support the information already gained prior to entry from the NHS Audiology teams.
• Our team work closely with NHS audiologists and ENT specialists in order to ensure good continuity of care.  A range of paediatric and adult NHS contract hearing devices are routinely managed including programming adjustments to check against amplification requirements.
• Our team work alongside our multi-disciplinary to plan and deliver joint programmes, primarily aimed in developing communication and listening skills.

Beyond the clinic

Our team visits the classroom setting to observe functional listening and to provide advice and deliver training to educational staff.  Educational devices such as personal FM systems are recommended, alongside sound field systems within the classroom.

For those students with sound sensitivity, the audiologists may recommend a desensitisation programme around an environmental sound walk. This will expose the student to more familiar day to day auditory experiences, helping to tackle auditory processing issues.  

Aurythmics

Aurythmics is an innovative programme which uses live and recorded music to target auditory processing issues and assist with hearing assessments for children and young people. This programme is offered to all students in our audiology clinic who will benefit from a bespoke listening programme focusing on the detection and discrimination of sound.