ABA Pediatric Audiology & Counseling 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A 6-month-old fails ABR screening at 35 dB nHL in the right ear. What is the most appropriate next step?
- Rescreen in 3 months
- Refer immediately for diagnostic ABR (Correct answer)
- Fit a hearing aid on the right ear
- Recommend speech-language evaluation only
Correct answer: Refer immediately for diagnostic ABR
EHDI guidelines recommend diagnostic ABR by 3 months of age for any failed newborn hearing screen.
Question 2: Which counseling approach focuses on helping parents identify and reframe negative thoughts about their child's hearing loss?
- Person-centered counseling
- Cognitive-behavioral counseling (Correct answer)
- Informational counseling
- Grief-cycle counseling
Correct answer: Cognitive-behavioral counseling
Cognitive-behavioral counseling targets maladaptive thought patterns to improve coping in families of children with hearing loss.
Question 3: A 4-year-old with sensorineural hearing loss shows aided thresholds averaging 35 dB HL across 500–4000 Hz. How is this fitting described?
- Overfitting
- Underfitting
- Appropriately fitted (Correct answer)
- Within the speech banana
Correct answer: Appropriately fitted
Aided thresholds averaging 30–40 dB HL are generally considered appropriate per DSL and NAL-NL2 pediatric targets.
Question 4: The Ling Six Sound Test is used in pediatric audiology primarily to:
- Diagnose auditory neuropathy
- Verify hearing aid or cochlear implant function across frequencies (Correct answer)
- Determine unaided thresholds at speech frequencies
- Screen for auditory processing disorder
Correct answer: Verify hearing aid or cochlear implant function across frequencies
The Ling Six Sounds (/m/, /ah/, /oo/, /ee/, /sh/, /s/) span the speech frequency range and quickly verify device audibility.
Question 5: When counseling parents who have just received a diagnosis of permanent hearing loss for their child, the audiologist's FIRST priority should be:
- Providing a detailed explanation of audiogram results
- Acknowledging the family's emotional response (Correct answer)
- Recommending amplification options
- Distributing written educational materials
Correct answer: Acknowledging the family's emotional response
Affective counseling that validates emotions must precede informational content for effective parent communication.
Question 6: Which otoacoustic emission type is most commonly used to screen newborn hearing?
- Distortion product OAE (DPOAE)
- Transient evoked OAE (TEOAE) (Correct answer)
- Spontaneous OAE (SOAE)
- Sustained frequency OAE (SFOAE)
Correct answer: Transient evoked OAE (TEOAE)
TEOAEs are widely used in newborn hearing screening due to their broad frequency coverage and ease of administration.
Question 7: A child with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) will most likely show which audiologic pattern?
- Absent OAEs with present ABR
- Present OAEs with absent or abnormal ABR (Correct answer)
- Absent OAEs with absent ABR
- Present OAEs with normal ABR
Correct answer: Present OAEs with absent or abnormal ABR
ANSD is characterized by present OAEs (indicating normal outer hair cell function) with absent or severely abnormal ABR waveforms.
ABA Pediatric Audiology & Counseling 2
A 6-month-old fails ABR screening at 35 dB nHL in the right ear.
What is the most appropriate next step?