More information about the Hearing Evaluation
* Medical and hearing history - You will be asked to fill out several forms, including those that record your personal information, medical history, medication list, and financial responsibility.
This can be done over the phone, filled on-line or it can be emailed to you to fill out before your scheduled appointment.
Your audiologist will come to your home and perform a professional hearing test and review the results with you, and discuss their recommendations.
As your exam begins your audiologist will review your medical history with you and will ask you some questions to differentiate any underlying cause of your symptom(s).
Otoscopic examination- the Audiologist will check your ear canals and ear drums by using an otoscope in order to see whether or not there is ear wax obstructing the canal. If you have had frequent ear wax problems and/or you believe you are due to be cleaned, you can have your ears cleaned by your past provider or that can be serviced at the time of visit.
The first test that is conducted is the pure tone hearing test. We use a state-of-the-art audiometer that is certified for an environment like your home. Testing is constantly monitored by computer so that any noise in your home won't affect the test result.
The Audiologist will place insert earphones, headphones, or bone-vibrator that are connected to an audiometer over your ears or on the forehead. The goal of this test is to find the softest sound that you can hear ("Hearing Threshold") at various frequencies ("pitch") of sounds. When you hear a sound, you will be asked to say “yes” or raise your hand. Testing is not painful nor uncomfortable.
The next test is speech testing. The first speech test is to find the softest level you can hear words. The audiologist will ask you to listen to one or two syllable words and repeat them. The level varies up and down depending on your response for one test. You can take a guess if it is too soft and "not sure" or simply pass. Another test is conducted at a most comfort level (MCL). There is no right or wrong answers.
Sometimes speech-in-noise may be conducted. This result will provide useful information regarding how well you hear sentences in a noisy environment.
The result of your test is being recorded throughout the test and the form is called an "audiogram." The audiologist will review it with you.
The audiogram reflects your hearing loss in frequencies (pitch of the sound) and decibels (loudness of the sound). You will be shown the type, pattern and degree of hearing loss, as well as the percentage of normal conversational speech that you are still able to hear.
Your Audiologist will then discuss recommendations as well as treatment plans according to your symptoms, test results, and your communication needs.