Hearing Evaluation

The purpose of this evaluation is to determine if you have a hearing loss and if so, how severe it is. This test is painless; it only takes about an hour.

There are (5) Steps to the Hearing Evaluation:

1. Assessment: Sharon will ask you a series of questions regarding your medial and hearing history. These questions will be about the noise you’ve been exposed to in your life, any injury or illnesses that may have affected your hearing and any medications you are currently taking.

2.  Visual Examination: an otoscope, a cone-shaped device with a light inside, will be used to examine your eardrums and canals. Sharon is looking for any problems that are visual before testing your hearing.

3. Tone Test: Once you’ve answered your assessment questions and have finished the visual examination, we’ll begin the hearing test. Sharon will take you to a sound-treated room that blocks out sounds from the outside, you will be given earphones to put into your ears. She will administer the test; you will be listening for various tones and all you will need to do is push a button as you hear the sounds.

This hearing test evaluates all aspects of your hearing in both ears including eardrums, canals, and sounds that are transmitted through the bone behind each ear to the inner ear.

4.  Speech Test: This part of the evaluation Sharon will be speaking words into your earphones and you will need to repeat them. You’ll hear two-syllable words that will get softer and softer until you can’t hear them. Next, you will hear one-syllable words; the volume will be consistent thought the rest of the test rather than getting softer and softer as before.

5. Impedance Test: This test will indicate how well your eardrums are moving and if there are any middle ear problems that need to be addressed. Sharon will put a probe into your ear and increase or decrease air pressure allowing her to evaluate your middle ear capabilities.

The results of these tests will be plotted on a graph called an audiogram. An audiogram is arranged with frequencies across the top and shows the relative ability of your right and left ear at various frequencies.

Below is an example of an audiogram, typically you’ll find that the left side of the ear represents very low tones and the right side shows very high tones. However, every individual is different, which is why we understand the need to customize your hearing solution to meet your unique needs.