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Get Your Hearing Tested Regularly

We all could afford to be more proactive about our health, and that's just as true for our hearing. Getting your hearing screened regularly allows your board certified hearing instrument specialist or audiologist to identify the presence of a potential problem if there are any changes to your hearing ability over the years. As with most health issues, catching an issue early is the best way to prevent it from worsening. Detecting a problem now could save you from losing your hearing altogether. Screenings are painless, quick, and only need to be performed every couple of years.

What's Involved in Your Hearing Evaluation?

Air conduction testing, also known as pure-tone testing, is something that you've likely had performed on you at some point in your life, even if it hasn't been since school years. Air conduction testing is best performed by placing earphones on and simply raising your hand to indicate to your board certified hearing instrument specialists or audiologist that you've heard a beeping noise in either ear. The technician performing the test will play tones at different pitches or frequencies one at a time to test the full range of your hearing ability. It is called an air conduction test as it is testing your ability to hear sounds that move through the air through your outer and middle ear.

Bone Conduction Test

Bone conduction tests work similarly to air conduction tests, but are different in the way the sound travels through your ear. You may have at some point that sound seems to travel clearly when your feel a direct vibration through the bones in your face or skull. This is another way that sound waves can travel and move directly to your inner ear. A bone conduction test will see you wearing a headband while our board certified hearing specialist or audiologist emits the same vibrational frequencies you heard during the previous test. Your audiologist will compare the results of both tests to help identify where the root of your hearing problems may lie.

Speech Testing

Speech testing involves your audiologist playing full words through the headphones as opposed to tones. You may undergo speech testing in quiet or somewhat noisy conditions to see how your hearing is impacted in different environments. Your board certified hearing instrument specialists or audiologist will use the results of speech testing to see if the findings coincide with what is recorded during the previous tests. These three tests when used together help to paint an accurate, cohesive picture of what areas of your ear are being affected. This allows your audiologist to create the proper treatment path to help you with any potential hearing loss.

Note that a hearing evaluation is not the same as a hearing screening. For those with no cause for concern or no issues with hearing, a hearing screening may be quick enough to ensure that there are no problems. However, if you've noticed changes and have reason to inquire more about your hearing, an evaluation may be in order. Give us a call to schedule your appointment!