There are many benefits to getting your hearing tested, including gaining insight into the severity of your hearing loss and establishing a baseline for your hearing thresholds. While it might be intimidating at first, hearing tests are actually painless and quite simple. Let’s discuss what to expect at your hearing evaluation so you can feel comfortable and confident at your appointment.
Discussions
Your appointment will begin with a discussion between you and your audiologist about your hearing and overall health history. They’ll ask about your concerns, symptoms you’ve noticed, work, lifestyle, hobbies and general medical history to get an idea of your hearing and what the underlying issue may be. There are many different causes of hearing loss, so a comprehensive consultation on your health is helpful. This is also a great opportunity for you to ask questions, so come prepared!
The Hearing Test
After the consultation step, you’ll move on to the hearing test portion of the appointment. Typically, we begin with a pure-tone test, which involves you sitting in a soundproof room with headphones on, listening to tones at various pitches and volumes and indicating when you hear a sound. Some of these sounds will be very quiet, so this part of the test will require your full attention. This test will determine the quietest volume at which you can hear different pitches, a marker known as your “hearing threshold.”
Additional Testing
Depending on what you and the audiologist discussed and the results from the pure-tone test, there may be additional hearing tests performed. There are several different types of hearing tests, including speech-in-noise testing, which uses recordings of spoken speech instead of beeps or tones to determine your listening comprehension, and bone conduction testing, which determines what type of hearing loss you have.
Reviewing Results
Once the testing is complete, your audiologist will review your results with you. Your results will be printed out on a grid called an audiogram, which will illustrate what you’re capable of hearing. Your audiologist will discuss:
- What you can hear, and what you might struggle to hear
- The severity of your hearing loss (mild, moderate, severe or profound)
- Whether your hearing loss is temporary or permanent
- Possible treatment options, if necessary
At this point, you and your audiologist will discuss the next steps. Your audiologist will have expert recommendations, but this conversation is collaborative. We want to work with you on your hearing loss journey.
If you’re ready to take the next steps with your hearing challenges, contact Waterville Audiology and schedule an appointment for a hearing test.