What to Expect During a Hearing Test

If suspected hearing loss has finally led you to schedule an appointment for a hearing test with a hearing healthcare provider, you’ve taken the first step to better hearing and overall health. Before even stepping into the hearing clinic, your may feel anxious – unfamiliar with exactly what a hearing test involves. Although it’s natural to feel this way, there’s no reason to be uncomfortable about the process. In most cases, you’ll be in and out in under and hour, and experience no physical discomfort. To ease your mind, here is the typical chronology of events you can expect during a standard hearing test.

Type of Hearing Test

The type of hearing test will determine how long and how involved the exam will be. If you’ve never had your hearing tested before or have only mild concerns, your hearing health professional may stick with a shorter assessment to gauge whether more extensive testing is necessary. On the other hand, if you have experienced definite symptoms of hearing loss or have undergone previous screenings that indicate hearing loss, you will need a full exam. In either case, the assessment process will most likely include the following steps.

1.    Case History

The hearing professional will need to have a thorough understanding of your personal and family health history in order to link possible causes for hearing loss, and to gain a better understanding of which type of tests to perform. The hearing test usually begins with a discussion of any risk factors or conditions that might be affecting your hearing.

2.    Otoscope Examination

Next, the audiologist will use a light known as an otoscope to physically examine your ear canals and eardrums. This reveals if there are any blockages or structural damages that could be affecting your hearing.

3.    Pure and Speech Tone Audiometry Tests

During the main portion of your hearing exam, you’ll be fitted with headphones, placed in a special sound chamber and exposed to a variety of tones. You’ll be asked to indicate which ones you can hear by either raising your hand or pushing a button. This tests the upper and lower thresholds of tones and pitches you’re capable of hearing, and records them on a report known as an audiogram. If the audiologist also performs a speech audiometry test, you will be exposed to a more limited range of tones that occur in normal speech. You may also need to listen to sequences of speech and repeat back what was heard.

4.    Tympanometry (Middle Ear) Test

An additional test that may be included in your hearing evaluation, especially if you need to be approved for hearing aids, is a tympanometry test. This test gauges the interaction of the eardrum and middle ear system with air pressure, indicates the potential presence of fluid behind the eardrum and provides data about the health of the Eustachian tubes.

5.    Discussion of the Results

After the results of your hearing tests have been assessed, the audiologist will discuss them with you and provide recommendations for further treatment options such as hearing aids, if necessary.

As you can see, a standard hearing test is nothing to be anxious about. The sooner your hearing is assessed the sooner you can receive guidance and treatment for any hearing difficulty you have been experiencing. Knowledge is freedom and when it comes to hearing, that freedom can vastly affect your quality of life. If you have any reason to suspect hearing loss, schedule a hearing health exam today.