A 6-year-old is brought to clinic by his father ahead of an operation planned for later in the year. The referral came through the school: his teacher has noticed that he always takes the same seat at one end of the front row, and that he turns his head whenever the classroom gets loud. His father would like to know whether hearing is behind any of that before decisions get made. He is otherwise a healthy boy who has hit every developmental milestone, with speech and language exactly where they should be.