The Hearing Test
What You Should Expect
Hearing Screening and Testing
Hearing impairment affects more than just your ability to hear — it affects your quality of life. Beltone stresses the importance of an accurate and timely hearing test. The hearing evaluation is just the beginning of your treatment, and it’s essential to setting your unique care plan in motion and taking action on hearing loss. Your in-depth hearing evaluation will help us craft a treatment plan that renews your ability to hear, allowing you to truly hear your best and live life on your terms.
Step One: The Interview (Case History)
The interview process helps our practice determine the extent of your hearing impairment and aids us in uncovering any specific areas requiring further attention. Some typical questions you’ll want to prepare for are:
Has anyone else in your family had hearing problems?
Have you had any illnesses or injuries that might have affected your hearing?
Have you taken any medications that might have contributed to hearing impairment?
Have you been exposed to loud noises in your workplace or while participating in leisure activities?
Step Two: The Physical Examination of Your Ear
Our hearing care providers take a close look inside your ear and figure out whether the hearing difficulty you are experiencing could be caused by an obstruction or damage to the ear canal or eardrum. We use a special instrument called an otoscope or video otoscope to inspect your outer ear and your ear canal. We make sure that your tympanic membrane, or "ear drum" looks healthy and normal, and that there are no perforations, or anything else visible that could be a cause for hearing loss or a reason not to proceed with your hearing exam.
Step Three: Hearing Tests
Next we’ll need to figure out the nature of your hearing loss. We will typically perform hearing tests such as the following:
A pure tone audiometry test to determine how well you hear in the frequency ranges of human speech (typically 250Hz to 8kHz). We'll perform a version of this examination using headphones, and then again with a device that sits on either your mastoid bone behind your ear or on your forehead. The purpose of doing this both ways is to make sure that there is not a condition in your middle ear that is causing your hearing issues. If this test indicates that there may be a middle ear problem, we may refer you to a physician for further examination before we proceed with any treatment of your hearing loss.
A speech assessment to measure how well you hear and understand ordinary conversation at different volumes, and the potential improvement that you may see from proper hearing loss treatment.
A series of tests that check at what level sound is most comfortable for you, and a what point it becomes too loud to be comfortable. We'll use this information to prescribe the proper amount of amplification to treat your hearing loss.
After the completion of these tests, your results will be documented on an audiogram. An audiogram is created after you take a pure-tone hearing test, to map out the type, degree, and configuration of your hearing loss. The audiogram shows your hearing loss by frequency, as pitch and loudness of sounds change. Frequencies are measured in hertz (Hz), and the loudness or intensity is measured in decibels (dB). We will help determine whether you have trouble hearing low or high pitches and what that means for you moving forward.
Step Four: Treatment Options (Hearing Aids, other assistive devices)
We will work with you to match your lifestyle needs with the most appropriate technology, specifically designed to treat your unique hearing loss. The typical treatment for hearing loss is a hearing instrument, for for some patients, the loss is not severe enough to require treatment, and annual tests, hearing protection, or other communication strategies may be advised.