Audiology

Specialized hearing services

Parents or physicians may contact the Specialized Services for Children and Youth (SSCY) Centre to request a referral for audiological services.

Referrals received by SSCY are prioritized and allocated to the appropriate site. HSC Winnipeg is one of the seven sites that can provide audiological diagnostic services to children. We primarily assess children less than five years of age and children who meet this criteria:

• Referral from the UNHS program for diagnostic testing
• Referral from the UNHS program for surveillance
• Referral from community testing site which has previously been incomplete, unsuccessful or children who cannot be tested behaviorally (second opinions with potential for sedated ABR)
• Referral from Oncology for a child on ototoxic medication
• Referral from ENT clinic
• Referral from craniofacial clinic

Universal Newborn Hearing Screening

This service is available to all infants born in Manitoba, or newborns who arrive in Manitoba in early infancy (less than six months of age).

Our care team will perform a hearing screening on each of your baby’s ears. This screening is fast and safe. Soft sounds are played by a computer into your baby’s ears using a soft ear tip. The computer measures the response to the sound from your baby’s ears to find out if your baby has normal hearing. Many babies sleep during the screening. You can breastfeed or hold them while it’s going on. The screening works best when your baby is quiet and sleeping.

If your baby does not pass, your baby will have a second hearing screening. This will take place either before you leave the hospital or in the community shortly after. For more information, see the provincial brochures.

Following the completion of this program, an infant may be entered into surveillance based on their risk factors for progressive hearing loss identified at birth. The infant will be followed either at the birth site or the site where diagnostic testing took place.