What is the LING 6 Sound Check?
The Ling Six Sound Check is an easy-to-use tool that evaluates how well children and young people are hearing with their cochlear implant/s and/or hearing aid/s. The activity is a behavioural listening check that uses simple spoken sounds to detect changes in the quality of hearing.
The check should be completed at the start of each day or at the start of a listening session and any time a child or young person does not seem to be hearing as well as they normally do.
The sounds used for the Ling 6 Sound Check are “mmm” (as in ‘man’), “ooo” (as in ‘boo’), “eee” (as in ‘see’), “ahh” (as in ‘car’), “shh” (as in ‘shoe’), and “sss” (as in ‘snake’). These sounds approximately cover the sounds ranging from 250-4000 Hz and represent speech sound in the low, mid, and high frequencies.
How is the LING 6 Sound Check carried out?
- Make sure hearing equipment is on, working and on appropriate settings/programme.
- Sit beside the child or young person, always start with the better hearing side if you want to check both sides. If you think there is a problem with one of the devices you could ‘test’ each one separately.
- Sit facing the child or young person, if you are using an auditory screen, hold it about 10cms away from your mouth so that it completely hides your mouth.
- Use your voice at a ‘normal’ speaking level, say each sound by itself so that they can be discriminated through listening alone. If the child or young person does not respond say the sound again and point to the picture/item.
- Make sure you don’t give additional clues through facial expression and make sure that the child or young person cannot see your lips. If you exaggerate your mouth pattern this can stretch up to your eyes and children can be very clever at using these clues!
- Each sound should be presented for the same length of time without rising or falling pitch. If you are introducing this activity for the first time or with a young child you may need to ‘play’ with the sounds initially and use some intonation to gain their interest – aim to ‘test’ with a single clear sound.
- After presenting each sound wait for the child or young person to respond in a manner appropriate for their age and ability. If you are not sure what to look out for ask your Teacher of the Deaf. Give them positive reinforcement – ‘You heard that’, ‘good listening!’ etc
- Present each sound at least 3 times in random order, vary the length of your pauses in between each presentation and occasionally make no sound at all. It is important to allow children to indicate they do not hear any sound are appropriate responses is an important part of the Ling 6 Sound Check.
- Keep track of the child or young person’s responses so that performance can be monitored over time. Share this with your Teacher of the Deaf.
The LING 6 Sound Check can be used in a number of ways to check responses at different ages and auditory skill level from a baby or newly implanted child or young person to an older more experienced listener. Talk to your Teacher of the Deaf about adapting the activity to the appropriate level for your child.
Resources you can use
Pictures, photos, letters or toys can be used to ‘play’ with the LING 6 Sounds. Children could be playing with a favourite toy as they hear the sounds. Encourage them to point to an associated picture or point to the letter, or can give the appropriate toy to a parent/carer or school staff.
Lip-reading might be needed at first to familiarise your child with the activity, but the aim is to check what they can hear through listening alone. Record responses so that you can monitor any changes in listening ability.
You can download pictures and a recording sheet using the following from Using LING sounds to check hearing.