Hearing Test

Hearing Health Quick Test (Full Description of Hearing Test Follows)

The following questions are recommended by the American Academy of Audiologists to help patients decide if they may need a hearing assessment by an audiologist. Answering YES to any of the following questions may mean that you have a hearing problem. Answering YES to several questions strongly suggests that a hearing check is necessary. In either case, you should have an audiologist check your hearing. A comprehensive hearing test by a qualified audiologist is called an audiological assessment.

Do you experience ringing or noises in your ears?
Do you hear better with one ear than with the other?
Have any of your relatives (by birth) had a hearing loss?
Have you had any significant noise exposure at work, during recreation or in military service?
Do you find it difficult to follow a conversation in a noisy restaurant or crowded room?
Do you sometimes feel that people are mumbling or not speaking clearly?
Do you experience difficulty following dialog in the theater?
Do you sometimes find it difficult to understand a speaker at a public meeting or a religious service?
Do you find yourself asking people to speak up or repeat themselves?
Do you find men's voices easier to understand than women's?
Do you experience difficulty understanding soft or whispered speech?
Do you sometimes have difficulty understanding speech on the telephone?
Does a hearing problem cause you to feel embarrassed when meeting new people?
Do you feel handicapped by a hearing problem?
Does a hearing problem cause you to visit friends, relatives, or neighbors less often than you would like?
Does a hearing problem cause you to talk to family members less often than you would like?
Does a hearing problem cause you to feel depressed?

Once you have determined that you need to have your hearing checked, you should call our office for an appointment. The initial diagnostic hearing test is an essential component of our hearing rehabilitation program. The first part of the test involves checking each ear using pure tones to determine how well you can hear different pitched sounds. The pure tone test helps determine the configuration or shape of your hearing loss. This information is necessary to select a hearing aid that will amplify the sounds that you are having the most difficulty hearing.

We will also determine how well you understand amplified speech in each ear. Your ability to understand amplified speech is an important factor in deciding if a hearing aid will benefit you. Some individuals cannot understand speech very well in either ear even when it is amplified. Other people may understand amplified speech well in one ear, but very poorly in the other ear. These individuals would benefit most by fitting the hearing aid in the ear that understands amplified speech the best. The important thing to remember is that a hearing aid amplifies sounds. The hearing aid does not necessarily make the sounds clear.