Preparing For Your Audiologist Appointment

Preparing for your audiologist appointment is a lot like preparing for any consultation with a medical professional. Your appointment may just be a check up or it may be that you have some concerns you would like to address. Either way, there are a couple of things you can do to prepare for the appointment before you arrive.

Compile your medical information

During your first appointment, it is always a good idea to give your audiologist a clear medical history and a list of any medications you take. This will help your audiologist to get a picture of your general health and will inform any diagnoses they make.

While medication causing hearing loss isn’t incredibly common, giving a list of prescriptions to your audiologist will help them to identify any issues there could be. Be honest when answering any questions about your medication and history; your audiologist is a medical professional so they will not share any confidential information you give them.

List the problems you are having

Taking a list of the concerns you have is a good idea for any medical appointment. With all the tests and questions during your audiology appointment, it can be easy to forget what you were concerned about originally.

The best thing to do is to note any problems you experience and when they happen. This will help you to see when issues occur and how regular they are. Taking this information to your audiologist will also help them decide which tests you need and to give you an appropriate diagnosis. If you notice that your hearing has declined between appointments, make sure that you take note of this too.

You should also write down the circumstances when you struggle with your hearing. For example, do you struggle to hear when you are in a crowded place? Do you find that you are turning the TV up more or finding it hard to listen on the phone? This information will help to contextualize your problems and will help to establish what sort of help you need.

Consider taking someone with you

If you are worried about your hearing and concerned that you will not be able to hear during your appointment, you can ask a friend or relative to come with you. They will be able to support you and offer another pair of listening ears. You may be offered a lot of information during your appointment so having someone else to take notes or ask questions may be useful.