Hearing implant service

Referrals

Making a referral

We accept referrals from:

  • ear, nose and throat (ENT) consultants
  • audiological doctors
  • scientists and technicians
  • paediatricians
  • speech and language therapists
  • teachers of the deaf
  • GPs

A medical referral is necessary for NHS funded care.

Please complete the adult hearing implant referral form and email it to us.

To refer a child, please visit the hearing implant centre referrals page on the Evelina London Children’s website.

To request specialist information, please email us.

Referral criteria

  • Pure tone audiometric threshold equal to or greater than 80dB hearing loss at 2 or more frequencies (500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz and 4000Hz) bilaterally without acoustic hearing aids
  • Limited benefit from wearing hearing aids
  • Children: do not wait for speech and language delay
  • Congenital, acquired, progressive, sudden onset
Cochlear implant referral criteria
  • Unsuitable for cochlear implants
  • Under 5 years of age
  • Non-neurofibromatosis type 2
  • Cochlear nerve aplasia
  • Cochlear obliteration (ostosclerosis, ossification)
  • Cochlear nerve avulasion (skull base fracture)
  • Pure tone audiometry thresholds at 65dB up to 750dB
  • No air-bone gap greater than 15dBHL
  • Limited benefit from hearing aids
  • No contraindications to wearing an ear mould
Middle ear implant referral criteria
  • Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) (air conduction (AC) thresholds within shaded area) or mixed/ conductive hearing loss (CHL) (bone conduction (BC) thresholds within darker outline)
  • stable hearing loss
  • inability to wear conventional hearing aids due to medical reasons
  • no retro-cochlear or central auditory pathology
Bone anchored hearing device referral criteria
  • Bone conduction thresholds within green area
  • Patient cannot wear conventional hearing aids due to chronic otitis media or otitis externa, congenital malformations, otosclerosis or recurrent ear infections due to hearing aid usage
  • Unilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) with normal bone conduction thresholds in the better hearing ear. Must be trialled with a CROS heairng aid before referral

Urgent referrals

Please mark your referral as urgent when you email it to us.

Please phone us to make sure we've received your email.

Last updated: June 2022

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