Hearing Test
Your hearing test results will be discussed thoroughly with you and related to your concerns about your hearing.
It is impossible to choose the correct hearing aid without first having your hearing assessed. A full diagnostic evaluation of your hearing will normally consist of the following:
- Otoscopic Examination: – to evaluate the status of the outer ear canal.
- Tympanometry – to evaluate the function of the middle ear.
- Pure tone Air and Bone Audiometry – where you will hear beep sounds at different pitches (frequencies) to evaluate how well you hear. This test takes place in a sound proof booth.
- Speech discrimination test – to determine how much the hearing loss is affecting your ability to understand speech.
The diagnostic test battery can thus determine whether you need a hearing aid, or if the cause of the hearing loss can be treated with medication or by surgery.
The result of the hearing test is plotted on a graph called an audiogram.
THE AUDIOGRAM
An audiogram is a graphic representation of yourhearing ability. During the test you will hear different pitches. These results are plotted on a graph.
The horizontal line at the bottom of the graph represents the different pitches. The low tones (like the engine of a car) on the left side and the high pitches (like a bird singing) on the right side.
HEAR THE WORLD
TYPES OF HEARING LOSS
- Conductive hearing loss
Damage caused to the middle-ear can result in a conductive hearing loss. Possible causes of conductive hearing loss are middle-ear infection, trauma to the middle-ear resulting in a perforated eardrum or disrupted ossicle chain. - Sensori-neural hearing loss
This type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the hair cells in the inner ear or damage to the parts of the inner ear that is connected to the brain. This type of hearing loss can commonly be caused by high noise levels. There are many other causes for this type of hearing loss including the natural aging process. - Mixed hearing loss
This type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the middle ear as well as the inner ear.
FINDING A SOLUTION FOR YOU HEARING LOSS
- Next step will be to consider treatment solutions. We will make appropriate recommendations to treat your hearing loss according to the test results and personal
Not Sure What You Need?
Simply give us a call and book an appointment for yourself. We are here to help! Michaelides and Vermaas, your hearing care provider since 1992.