BERA Hearing Test for Newborns & Children

A hearing test usually asks you to raise a hand when you hear a sound. A newborn cannot. BERA — also written ABR — solves that by measuring the response directly, from the hearing nerve and the brainstem, while the baby sleeps.

How it works

Soft earphones play a series of clicks. Small electrodes resting on the skin pick up the electrical response those clicks produce along the hearing pathway. Because a healthy pathway responds on a predictable schedule, the recording shows whether the sound is getting through and where it is being held up if it is not.

Your child does nothing at all. Nothing enters the body, no needle is used, and the clicks are not loud enough to be distressing.

Why it is done

• Newborn hearing screening, and follow-up where a screen was unclear.
• A baby who does not startle at sound, or a toddler whose speech is late.
• After an illness, jaundice or a stay in neonatal intensive care, where hearing is checked as a precaution.
• Where a doctor wants the hearing pathway checked as part of a wider neurological assessment.

Hearing that is picked up early can be acted on early, which is the entire reason these tests are done in the first months rather than later.

Preparing your baby

The test goes best during natural sleep, so plan around a feed and a nap rather than against them:

• Keep your baby awake a little longer beforehand where you can, so they settle at the appointment.
• Feed just before, and bring what you would normally need for a feed during the visit.
• Clean, dry skin — no oil or lotion on the head or behind the ears on the day.
• Bring a familiar blanket, and dress your baby in something comfortable.
• Allow around an hour; most of that is settling, not recording.

Older children who can lie still may be tested awake. You stay with your child throughout.

Afterwards

There is no recovery time — feed and go home as usual. The recording is reviewed by our specialist and the report shared with you or your referring paediatrician, who will explain what it means for your child and whether anything further is needed.

BERA is one of the evoked potential studies, and it is often arranged alongside other paediatric work — see paediatric neurodiagnostics for how we run studies for children.