What Is a Hearing Evaluation?

Hearing impairment affects more than just your ability to hear — it affects your quality of life. Advanced Hearing 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

To determine the nature of your hearing loss, we may conduct a series of hearing tests, including:

  • Full Audiometric Testing Evaluation: Measures your hearing ability across all frequencies
  • Middle-Ear Evaluation: Assesses how your eardrum and hearing system respond to varying levels of air pressure
  • Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) Test: Identifies the softest level at which you can understand speech
  • Speech Audiometry Testing: Evaluates how well you can hear and understand speech by having you repeat spoken words
  • Bone Conduction Testing: Determines whether your hearing loss is conductive (related to the outer or middle ear) or sensorineural (involving the inner ear or auditory nerve)
  • Speech-in-Noise Test: Measures your ability to understand speech in noisy environments by presenting sentences at different levels of background noise, helping to identify how much noise interferes with comprehension
  • Real Ear Measurement (REM): Used during hearing aid fitting to measure sound levels in the ear canal, ensuring the device provides optimal amplification tailored to your specific needs

If you are experiencing hearing difficulties, the results of these tests will be documented on an audiogram. The audiogram is created after a pure-tone hearing test and provides a detailed map of your hearing loss, indicating its type, degree, and configuration.

The audiogram illustrates how your hearing loss varies by frequency, showing changes in pitch and loudness. Frequencies are measured in hertz (Hz), and loudness or intensity is measured in decibels (dB). Based on the results, we’ll determine whether you have difficulty hearing low or high pitches and explain what this means for you moving forward.

Step Four

Discussing Results & Treatment Options

An older woman gets an adjustment made to her hearing aid

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.

Learn More About Hearing Aids

An older lady seen gardening with her granddaughter

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

 

Talk To Us About Cochlear Implants

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long does a hearing test take?
Approximately 20 minutes.
Q: How often should I get my hearing tested?
This depends on lifestyle as well as on age. Typically, we recommend an annual hearing test, whether there are signs of hearing loss or not, particularly if you are exposed to noise consistently through work or play. If you are exhibiting signs and symptoms of hearing loss, please call today to schedule an appointment.

Ready to Begin Your Journey to Better Hearing?

Contact our hearing professionals today to begin.

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