The Audiology Service in NHS Tayside provides assessments to establish the extent, site and cause of hearing and balance impairments alongside experienced staff providing rehabilitation, practical support and ongoing assistance to individuals with hearing loss, balance difficulties or associated problems such as tinnitus and hyperacusis. We assess and treat patients of all ages from Newborn Hearing Screening upwards.
We have 2 separate but interlinked services, one for Paediatrics and One for Adults. The service is based in Kings Cross Health & Community Care Centre in Dundee, Outpatients at Perth Royal Infirmary, The Regional Treatment Centre in Stracathro, with clinics also held at Pitlochry Community Hospital,Crieff Community Hospital and Whitehills Health and Community Care Centre in Forfar.
General information about our service is available on the NHS Tayside Audiology Service webpages.
How to contact us and how to find us.
Audiology
Who we are:
Who to refer:
Adults
Children
- Any patient with a suspected hearing loss
- Any patient who may require assessment for a hearing aid
- Any patient with tinnitus or hyperacusis,
- Any patient with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo
Children
- Any child who has given their family or involved professional reason to suspect that they may have an ongoing hearing problem.
- All children with a significant speech and language delay.
- All children with significant developmental delay or disability.
Who not to refer:
If any of the following criteria are evident at the time of referral, the patient should be referred directly to the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department or other local specialist pathways, and not to Audiology:
History:
Ear examination:
Other findings:
Existing Hearing aid users do not usually require a new referral in order to access an Audiology service which has provided them with a hearing aid. Direct contact details.
History:
- Sudden loss or sudden deterioration of hearing (sudden = within 72 hours), unilateral or bilateral, should be sent to A&E or Urgent Care ENT clinic within 24 hours. Due to the variety of causes of sudden hearing loss, the treatment timescale should be decided locally by the medical team. Prompt treatment may increase the likelihood of recovery.
- Altered sensation or numbness in the face or observed facial droop.
- Persistent pain affecting either ear, which is intrusive and which has not resolved as a result of prescribed treatment. (As a general guideline, this includes pain in or around the ear, lasting a week or more in recent months).
- History of discharge (other than wax) from either ear within the last 90 days, which has not resolved or responded to prescribed treatment, or which is recurrent.
- Rapid loss or rapid deterioration of hearing (rapid = 90 days or less).
- Fluctuating hearing loss, other than associated with colds.
- Tinnitus, which is persistent and which:
- is pulsatile.
- has significantly changed in nature.
- Adults with other types of tinnitus may be directly referred to Audiology, where they can be assessed and referred on if appropriate.
- Vertigo other than that associated with BPPV.
Ear examination:
- Complete or partial obstruction of the external auditory canal preventing full examination of the eardrum. If any wax is obscuring the view of the eardrum, the GP surgery (or referrer) should arrange wax removal prior to making a referral to Audiology.
- Abnormal appearance of the outer ear and/or the eardrum examples include inflammation of the external auditory canal, perforated eardrum, active discharge, eardrum retraction, abnormal bony or skin growths, swelling of the outer ear or blood in the ear canal.
Other findings:
- Any other unusual presenting features at the discretion or the referrer
Existing Hearing aid users do not usually require a new referral in order to access an Audiology service which has provided them with a hearing aid. Direct contact details.