Questions You May Want to Ask Your Child’s Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Doctor Name of ENT: ______________________________________________________ Phone: ____________________________________________________________ Appointment Date: __________________________________________________ Next Appointment Date: ______________________________________________ Test Name: _____________________________________________________ Name/Location of Test: ______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ An ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor (also called an otolaryngologist) can tell you if there is a medical condition in your child’s outer, middle, or inner ear that is causing the hearing loss by asking some questions and doing a medical examination. The doctor can also answer your questions about medical or surgical treatments. This will help ensure that intervention occurs within the “1-3-6” timeline (hearing screening before 1 month of age, hearing diagnostic audiological evaluation before 3 months of age, and early intervention before 6 months of age). Please see our other tip cards for information about other professionals, such as audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and early intervention specialists who will work with your family to provide you and your child with the services you need. An ENT who has training and experience to evaluate and treat infants and young children will offer the best care for your baby. Questions about my/our child’s hearing loss: 1. Do you have experience in evaluating and treating babies and children with hearing loss? 2. Do you have the most recent report from my child’s audiologist (hearing specialist)? 3. What type of hearing loss does my child have (sensorineural, conductive, or mixed)? Please explain the terms. 4. Should I make appointments with other health professionals? For example, an eye doctor or a geneticist? 5. Would you suggest genetic counseling for our family? 6. Are there other tests that my child needs? For example, brain scans (CT, MRI); heart tests (EKG); and blood or urine tests, or both. What will these tests tell you about my child’s hearing loss? 7. Can you tell if my child’s hearing loss will change or get worse? 8. Is there some cause for my child’s hearing loss? 9. How do I describe these results to family members? 10. What treatments are available? For example, ear tubes, other surgery, orcochlear implants? 11. Would my child benefit from a hearing aid? If so, how? 12. Do I need a form signed by a health care professional to allow my child to be fitted with hearing aids? 13. What do I do about ear wax build-up, since the hearing aid’s earmold may push the wax back into my child’s ear? 14. Besides hearing aids, what are some other things that will help my child to communicate? For example, a cochlear implant, cued speech, sign language, a combination, etc? 15. Will it be possible for my child to get a cochlear implant? Where can I go for more information? 16. How often will we meet with you, onetime or ongoing? Will you talk with my child’s other health professionals? For example, the audiologist, primary care provider, early interventionists? 17. Do I need to limit my child’s activities in any way?