Audiology
Audiology
Services offered by Audiology include:
- diagnostic hearing assessment for all ages including newborns referred from the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme
- auditory processing assessment for children over 7 years old
- habilitation and hearing aid fitting for children with permanent or significant hearing loss
- habilitation and hearing aid fitting for a small number of adults (who meet entry criteria for the service)
- ototoxicity monitoring
- Waikato Newborn Hearing Screening Programme: to provide diagnostic and habilitation services for babies who refer their newborn hearing screen.
- Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department: hearing assessments for patients referred by ENT, including hearing assessment for children under anaesthetic in theatre, and a monthly combined Ear Nose Throat / Audiology clinic
- Maxillofacial: assessment prior to surgery and fitting of the processor for bone anchored hearing aids
- Vision hearing technicians: refer children to the Audiology department who do not pass their B4 School Check
- North Island Cochlear Implant Programme: runs an outreach clinic from the department twice a year.
The audiologists also see a small number of adult patients.
Hearing therapists from Life Unlimited provide initial hearing aid assessments and on-going hearing aid support for adults.
Our audiologists provide a full range of third party funding options for adult hearing aids including ACC, War Pensions, WINZ and ACCESSABLE.
Key personnel
Deborah McKellar
Manager, Speech Language Therapy, Audiology, and Newborn Hearing Screening
Location
Our team offers an outpatient service for the Waikato region, which is based at:
- Waikato Hospital, Meade Clinical Centre, Audiology Clinic, Level 2, Reception E.
The service is also available as outreach clinics at Waikato DHB’s rural hospitals; Tokoroa, Te Kuiti, Thames and Taumarunui.
Contact
Phone: 07 839 8794
- Option 1 - Booking clerk:
For all booking and appointment queries - Option 2 - Assistant:
For all hearing aid and repairs queries
The Audiology department accepts internal referrals and external referrals from a range of services for children which include (and are not limited to): Plunket nurses, Vision Hearing Technicians and GPs.
It also accepts internal referrals and external referrals from a range of services for adults who include (and are not limited to): hearing therapists, audiologists in the private sector, and GPs.