Hearing Test

How to Prepare for a Hearing Test

During your initial visit, we will ask you about your medical history, your family’s medical history, your occupation and leisure activities. We’ll also ask about any recent illnesses or injuries, and any medication you’re currently taking. Try to think of any loud noises you’ve been exposed to in the recent past. If it’s helpful, write down any of the above information and bring it with you.

By collecting as much information as we can about your lifestyle and history, we’re better able to pinpoint any causes of hearing loss that may be contributing to your hearing issues. It also helps us understand what type of treatment is likely to work best for you.

What to Expect During Your Hearing Test

The hearing test is painless and relatively quick. The first step will be an examination of your ears with an otoscope. During this exam we will look for any earwax buildup in your ear canals, as well as any signs of injury, trauma, or perforation of the eardrum.

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Pure Tone Testing

After your physical examination, you’ll be asked to sit in a soundproof booth and given headphones or inserts to wear. Here you will be given instructions to raise your hand or signal when you hear a “beep”. Your Health Care Provider will play “pure tones” through your headphones/inserts at various decibel levels and ask you to respond to everything you hear. Each tone represents exactly one frequency (or pitch). When we put the results of your responses together, it allows us to get a very good picture of your overall hearing ability.

Speech Testing

Administering a separate speech recognition exam allows us to determine the lowest decibel level of speech that you’re able to understand. This test is very similar to pure tone audiometry, but you’ll hear speech instead of tones, and you’ll be asked to repeat the words you hear. Your Hearing Health Care Provider may also repeat this test while introducing background noise, to see how well you can comprehend speech when other noise is present.

Tympanometry

Tympanometry measures the response of your middle ear. By introducing a mild pressure difference in your ear canal, this enables us to see whether the mechanical path that sound takes through your ear is in good health. This test can be slightly uncomfortable, but is very safe and painless.

Post-Evaluation Consultation

After your hearing test, we will sit down with you to discuss the results. Sometimes, this consultation will simply confirm that your hearing is in good shape and we will make recommendations to help keep your hearing healthy
and book an annual recheck.

Audiology | Audiologist

If you have hearing loss we will discuss options with you, which most likely will include hearing aids as treatment. At this point, we will go over your options, and find a solution that meets your needs, lifestyle, and budget. Hearing Aids have changed a lot over the past few years, so you may be pleasantly surprised at how invisible they are and the natural sound quality, as well as all the streaming options. If you are a candidate, a risk free, no cost, no obligation Hearing Aid trial will be offered during your appointment.