Your transition from children's services to adult services: Information for young people

What is transition?

Transition is the process of transferring your hearing care from children’s services to adult services. We usually start discussing transition with you when you are 13 to 14 years old. At the age of 18, your hearing care will be transferred to the adult audiology service. We understand that you might have some questions about this process which will hopefully be covered on the page.

What is the difference between children’s and adult audiology services?

In Leeds, the adult audiology service is based at Seacroft Hospital and is part of Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. The team at Seacroft can test your hearing using the same testing techniques we offer here in children’s audiology, so don’t worry that your hearing tests might be different or more difficult.

Your will be offered a hearing check once a year and the Adult Audiology team will send you an appointment when your hearing check is due.

What are your responsibilities?

As a young adult you can start to be more involved with your own hearing care. You can ask family or friends for help and support if you have any worries about your hearing and are not sure what to do.

• Making appointments: You should make an appointment if you think your hearing may have changed. You do not need to wait until the adult audiology team contact you.
• Attending appointments: If you are unable to come to your appointment it is important to let the adult audiology team know as soon as possible, so that it can be offered to someone else.

Is your information shared?

When your hearing care is moved across to the adult audiology service, we will also send them any information we have about your hearing. This is to make sure the new audiologist that you see, knows your hearing information history. This information might include your previous hearing tests and how long you have been having your hearing tested in children’s audiology.

Continuing your studies

If you are planning to continue your studies in higher education, you may be eligible for communication services and equipment to help you.

You can contact your college disability or learning support officer for further details.

Moving into employment

If you are considering moving into employment, Access to Work is a government funded scheme which has been set up to make sure everyone has equal access at work. The scheme can help with the cost of any equipment, communication support and changes to your working environment.

You can find more information about Access to Work, or you can speak to the disability employment adviser at your local Jobcentre Plus for more information.