Your child's medical history helps the doctor, nurse or audiologist (hearing specialist) to diagnose glue ear. In particular they are interested in certain symptoms which can indicate hearing problems:
Otoscopy is a procedure where your child’s doctor, nurse or audiologist looks into your child’s ear using a medical device called an otoscope to see the ear canal and eardrum. In children with glue ear, the eardrum can look cloudy, be pulled back into the middle ear and sometimes bubbles and fluid can be seen behind the eardrum.
Tympanometry is a simple test for fluid in the middle ear. The tympanometer measures the movement of the eardrum to a change in air pressure. The eardrum moves freely when the pressure inside and outside the ear is the same. When there is fluid in the middle ear, the eardrum does not move so well and sound waves bounce back rather than pass through to the middle ear. The test only takes a few seconds and doesn't cause any discomfort.
Audiometry is a test of hearing levels and is normally carried out by an audiologist (hearing specialist). There are different tests depending on the age of your child.