Open petition: Mandate regular hearing tests for all school-aged children

Created by Maxine Clare
Closes on 4 May 2027

We want the Government to mandate regular hearing tests for all school aged children. Recent statistics reveal that over 53,000 UK children are deaf; half acquire loss of hearing after their newborn test.

Mild/unilateral losses can often go unnoticed and can then delay speech, learning, communication and social skills while early detection protects development and reduces long term costs.

Young children often compensate by lip-reading, watching others or guessing from context, so they may not realise they are missing parts of speech. Signs can easily be misread as inattention, shyness, behavioural issues or delayed development rather than hearing loss. Younger children often lack the language to say, "I can't hear properly," so the problem only becomes clear when speech, learning or social skills fall behind.

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