The present study tested the hearing of primary school children, in three different years, from four schools in the Christchurch area. 195 children participated in the study. Testing was undertaken on school grounds and children with results outside the normal range on the screening tests were offered follow-up audiological testing. The study investigated the percentage of children with a hearing loss, the type of hearing loss and whether a particular hearing loss is more common to one ethnic group than the others. The study also looked at the use of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) as a screening tool. The results were compared to those of other published studies to determine whether the children in the present study have approximately the same occurrence of hearing loss and middle ear dysfunction as other areas in the developed world. The occurrence of confirmed hearing loss was estimated at 7.6% and the occurrence of middle ear dysfunction was estimated to be 3%. Both these results were found to be consistent with previous literature. DPOAE findings were consistent with previous findings.