What’s A Hearing Evaluation?
Hearing impairment affects more than just your ability to hear — it affects your quality of life. Hearing Consultants 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
The interview process helps our practice determine the extent of your hearing impairment and aids us in uncovering any specific areas requiring further attention. Here are some typical questions you’ll want to prepare for:
- 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
A Hearing Examination
Our hearing care providers take a close look inside your ear to figure out if 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 — it’s called an otoscope, or a video otoscope — to inspect your outer ear.
The process is completely painless and with the video otoscope, you can even see the inside of your ear, if you would like to.
Step Three
Hearing Tests
Next, we’ll need to figure out the nature of your hearing loss. There’s a chance we will include hearing tests, like the following:
- A comprehensive hearing test to measure the softest volume you are able to hear from 250-8000 Hz. These are the most important pitches in understanding speech
- A speech assessment to measure how well you hear and understand speech in each ear
- A middle-ear evaluation to measure how your eardrum and middle ear system react to sound and pressure. This helps us determine if you have congestion, fluid or a possible ear infection
If you are determined to have a hearing impairment, your results will be documented on an audiogram. An audiogram is a graph created after you take a hearing test. It maps out the type, degree, and configuration of your hearing loss. The audiogram shows your level (volume) of hearing loss at each pitch tested. Pitch (also known as frequency) is measured in hertz (Hz), Volume 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
Discussing Results & Treatment Options
Hearing Aids
We will work with you to match your lifestyle needs with the most advanced technology, specifically designed to treat your unique hearing loss. The basic components of this instrument include a microphone, an amplifier, a receiver, and a tiny processor. The exceptional effectiveness of your devices is the result of a powerful combination of professional expertise, software, and hardware.
Surgery & Implants
We now have the ability to surgically insert devices into the ear to improve hearing, facilitate lip-reading, and make it easier to distinguish certain sounds. Typically, these are most helpful if you are deaf or profoundly hearing-impaired, and hearing aids are not a useful treatment for you. Surgical implants include:
- Cochlear implants
- Middle-ear implants
- Bone-anchored hearing aids
- Auditory brainstem implants
