What to expect at the Visit?
You will be asked to review the personal information that we have for you to make sure that we have your correct address and phone numbers. We will make a copy of your insurance card and ID and you will be asked to review and sign some routine paperwork.
Our audiologist will ask questions about the problems that you are having with your hearing and also about your medical history. They will want to know about any medications that you are taking. It would be very helpful if you can bring a list of your current medications with you.
The audiologist will examine the outside of your ears, as well as, your ear canals and your eardrums to look for any abnormalities. Based on your age, your medical history and your ear examination, the audiologist will decide which tests to include in your comprehensive, diagnostic evaluation.
What Tests Will Be Done?
A typical evaluation for an adult or a school age child at minimum will consist of the following tests:
Pure-tone Air and Bone Conduction Testing
During the air conduction test the audiologist will place headphones over your ears or insert small earphones into your ear canals. You will be asked to listen for very soft sounds at many different pitches. Pure-tone air conduction testing determines the softest tones that a person can hear at different frequencies, both low and high. Bone conduction testing is similar to pure-tone air conduction testing. A different type of headphone is used during bone conduction testing. The results of the bone conduction testing will help the audiologist determine if the hearing loss is nerve damage or is related to a sound transmission problem in the middle ear.
Speech Testing
You will be asked to repeat a series of words to determine the lowest level that you can reasonably hear words and also measure your ability to understand speech when the volume is adjusted to correct for your hearing loss.
Other tests
Other tests to measure the performance of your eardrum and inner ear may also be included if the audiologist feels that it is medically necessary.
What happens next?
Following the examination, our audiologist will carefully explain the test results and provide you with recommendations for a plan of action. We can provide you with an easy to understand graph of your test results to take home so that you can discuss it with your family and loved ones. If a physician has referred you, we will send them a report of your test results and our recommendations.