What to Expect in Your Initial Appointment with a Hearing Professional

Now that you have your appointment booked you will need to prepare for it. It can be a bit overwhelming and daunting as it is a big deal, but it’s OK, the audiologist is there to help you. Here are a few things to keep in mind so you know what to expect during your first appointment with your audiologist:

1.  Arrive early: it is very important to arrive a little early to your appointment, at least 10-15 minutes. First of all you need to ensure you are at the correct location and you may need to find parking which can take some time. Also, you will need to fill out some paperwork prior to seeing the hearing health professional. This will help relieve some of the anxiety about the appointment, to give yourself some time to breathe and relax and to help ensure your appointment is not rushed.
2. Filling out paperwork: there will be paperwork for you to fill out prior to the appointment so please ensure you have your insurance card with you. If you happen to have had previous hearing tests try to bring a copy of the results with you it will help the hearing health professional. Your paperwork will include a medical history, as well as a family history and work history. You will also be asked to describe your hearing problems and why you decided to seek out the help of a hearing health professional
3. Meeting the hearing health professional: after you have filled out all of the paperwork you will meet with the hearing health professional and get to know each other. They will go over the forms you filled out and ask more questions or clarification to understand your hearing needs. They will likely take a look at the outside of your ear and then using an otoscope they will look in your ear. This will help further document and understand your hearing needs.
4. Testing: once you have gone over the paperwork with the hearing health professional and they have looked at your ear, you will go into the testing room to have your hearing tested. You will be placed in a sound booth; it is literally a big square box. The sound booth will ensure no ambient noise can disturb or influence the hearing test. The hearing health professional will perform a series of tests in order to obtain an accurate result of your current hearing. There is an air conduction test – pure tones are heard through headphones or earplugs, a bone conduction test – pure tones are heard through an oscillating headband on your mastoid bone behind your ear, and a speech test – words are given at different volumes. Each of these tests are viewed together to determine how your hearing is and how it is affecting your life and day-to-day activities.
5. Results: once all of the testing has been completed and recorded the hearing health professional will go over the results with you and will recommend what your next step is, whether it is to purchase hearing aids or to continue to monitor your hearing and get retested in 6 months to a years’ time or to see an audiologist or other hearing health professional for further medical treatment.