About the test

We will check your child’s hearing, known as a hearing screening. The hearing test will show whether your child has normal hearing. Your child uses their hearing to develop language and to develop both socially and psychologically. Detecting any reduced hearing early improves our chances of helping your child gain normal or better hearing.

The hearing screening is offered between 48 to 72 hours after birth and at the latest when the child is 2 months old. We will carry out the tests in the hospital or in your home.

Your child should be asleep during the hearing test

It helps if your child is asleep during the hearing test. Try keeping your child awake before the test, and make sure to change and feed your child to encourage sleep.

Turn off your phone

To ensure a quiet environment, please turn off your phone while we test your child’s hearing. We recommend that you do not bring along any siblings.

The hearing screening

A small earpiece will be placed in your child’s ear. The earpiece will make gentle clicking sounds in your child’s ear canal. When the inner ear, also called the cochlea, registers a sound, the ear should echo it. The earpiece catches the echo. This is how we test your child’s hearing.

In some cases, the earpiece will not register an echo. This does not necessarily mean that your child cannot hear. The lack of echo can be caused by vernix caseosa in the ear canal, too much background noise, restlessness in your child or a machine malfunction. It is normal for your child to have vernix caseosa in the ear canal, this will go away on its own.

You will be offered a new hearing test appointment if the earpiece does not register an echo.

Test results

You will know the results of the hearing test immediately. If repeated tests show that your child is likely to have reduced hearing, we will offer additional tests in the audiological department (Audiologisk Afsnit).

For more information

If you want more information about the test or about childrens’ hearing, you are welcome to contact us. You can also read more about the test on our website https://regionh.dk/42x (in Danish only).