Hearing impairment affects more than just your ability to hear — it affects your quality of life. Advanced Hearing Care 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. 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 Examination
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.
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 such as the following:
- A hearing screening to measure your hearing at four frequencies at 25 decibels each
- A speech assessment to measure how well you hear and understand ordinary conversation at different volumes
- A middle-ear evaluation to measure how your eardrum and hearing react to varying degrees of air pressure
If you are suffering from a hearing impairment, 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
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
Advanced Hearing Care does not perform surgery or provide implants but will make appropriate referrals based on your hearing loss.
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) tests whether some parts of the ear respond to sound. During this test, a soft earphone is inserted into your baby’s ear canal. It plays sounds and measures an “echo” response that occurs in ears with normal hearing. If there is no echo, your baby might have hearing loss.
- The auditory brain stem response (ABR) tests how the auditory nerve and brain stem (which carry sound from the ear to the brain) respond to sound. During this test, your baby wears small earphones and has electrodes painlessly placed on his or her head. The electrodes adhere and come off like stickers, and they should not cause discomfort.
Taken from the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institute of Health (NIH).