Stoughton Road,
Guildford,
GU1 1LJ
Galsworthy Road,
Kingston upon Thames,
Surrey
KT2 7QB
Welcome to your New born Hearing Screening Service (The Jarvis Centre). We provide early identification of your baby’s hearing to give them better ‘life chances’ of developing speech and language skills and making the most of social and emotional interaction from an early age.
More about us
The New born Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) ensures all parents are offered hearing screening for their new born child within the first few weeks of life. It is a core service within the NHS in England and part of the family of Antenatal & New born Screening Programmes. It aims to identify unilateral or bilateral moderate to profound permanent childhood hearing impairment within five to six weeks of birth.
We work in partnership with local audiology services, GP’s, social services, staff on the Maternity and Labour Ward as well as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to complete the hearing screening care pathway for babies.
Our site is a hospital model which means the hearing screen is usually completed by a trained screener before you leave the maternity ward or labour ward, but after the baby is 6 hours old. However if the screen is not carried out then or you had a home birth, you will be asked to attend an outpatients appointment in one of our 8 community clinics.
The hospitals that we cover are:
Royal Surrey Hospital, Guildford & St Peters Hospital, Chertsey
Frimley Park Hospital, Frimley and Wrexham Park Hospital, Slough .
What happens during my baby’s appointment?
Information will be provided to you about the screen and verbal consent has to be obtained before any screen can take place. Then the screener will place a small soft tipped earpiece is placed in the outer part of your baby’s ear which sends clicking sounds into the ear. When an ear receives the sound, the inner part, known as the ‘cochlea’ usually produces an echo. The screening equipment can pick up this response. This is called an Automated Otoacoustic Emission (AOAE) screening test. It is a simple, quick and painless test that gives instant results and will usually be done whilst your baby is asleep or settled.
What if my baby needs a second hearing screen?
There are some babies that need to have a second hearing screen because the first screen didn’t show a clear response from one or both of baby’s ears. This does not necessarily mean that your baby has a hearing loss, some common reasons other than a hearing loss could be because baby is unsettled, there is a lot of background noise or if the baby has fluid or debris in the ear canal. The test will be repeated either the following day if you are still in hospital or as a clinic appointment.
What if my baby has been to Special Care?
With babies who have spent more than 48 hours in the Special Care Unit, another test called the automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) test is also used. This test looks at the response of the hearing nerve to sounds. For this test, sounds will be played to your baby using earphones, and sensors placed on the baby’s head detect how the hearing nerve responds to the sounds.
If there is not a clear response from one or both ears after the AABR test, then baby will be referred to the local audiology department for further tests.
Clinic days and times
We will let you know about the specific place and time of your baby’s appointment when the appointment is confirmed.
The follow up screens will take about 30mins but this depends on your baby’s needs.
How do I cancel or change my baby’s appointment?
If you and your baby cannot make the appointment, please contact us as soon as you can on 01483 783 143. This will enable us to arrange another appointment for you.
Where do I go for my baby’s appointment?
We will let you know about the specific place and time of your baby’s appointment when the appointment is confirmed.
If you need to bring any other children with you, please arrange for someone to supervise them during the appointment.
What happens during my baby’s appointment?
A small soft tipped earpiece is placed in the outer part of your baby’s ear which sends clicking sounds into the ear. When an ear receives the sound, the inner part, known as the ‘cochlea’ usually produces an echo. The screening equipment can pick up this response. This is called an Automated Otoacoustic Emission (AOAE) screening test.
How long will the appointment take?
The initial screen at home will take about 15 minutes but the new birth visit may be considerably longer. The follow up screens will take about 30mins but this depends on your baby’s needs.
Bringing someone with you to your baby’s appointment
You are welcome to bring someone with you to your baby’s appointment. Sometimes our staff may also request to have someone present for an appointment. If you or the member of staff is uncomfortable with the person, we’ll reschedule to a later date when the correct person is available.
How do I cancel or change my baby’s appointment?
If you and your baby cannot make the appointment, please contact us as soon as you can. This will enable us to use the time to arrange an appointment for another baby.
How will I get feedback about my baby?
Keeping you involved in your baby’s care is important to us. We’ll keep you updated on your baby’s hearing screening results either face-to-face or in writing.
Your baby’s records
We record all the information about your baby confidentially on our clinical system.
Click here to get more information about how we use health records.
Our commitment to you and your baby
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust takes you and your baby’s dignity and privacy very seriously and we will at all times respect your confidentiality.
Please treat our staff with respect so we can provide you with the very best care we can. Click here to find out more about your rights and responsibilities.
Your opinion really matters to us
Please let us know if you have a comment, a compliment or a complaint by filling out one of our feedback forms that can be found within all of our service locations or telling a member of the team.
Additional Information
The Learning Enterprise – New Born Hearing Screening Diploma Level 3
Patient contact information Tel: 01483 783 143
