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Health & Fitness

What Happens When I Get a Hearing Test?

A hearing test is a painless procedure designed to provide us with information about the status of well…your ability to hear.  The following are a few of the procedures that might occur during the course of a hearing test.  It is quite possible that not all of these procedures will be done when you come for your visit.  We treat every patient as an individual and as such we will tailor your visit to meet your needs.

History

We begin the process by asking questions.  The questions help us to form a picture about your condition. Your answers to the questions will help us to determine what other questions we may need to ask and which tests we may want to administer.   We also encourage you to ask questions and to provide us with information we might not ask for but you feel may help us to figure out what’s going on with your hearing.

Otoscopic Examination

An evaluation of the outer ear and ear canal using an instrument called an otoscope will follow the history taking.  This step is typical during just about every new patient visit. We’re looking for abnormalities and dysfunction of the outer ear and ear canal.

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Pure Tone Air Conduction Testing

Sound will be delivered via headphones either placed over your ears or inserted (a soft disposal tip is used) just into your ear canal.  You will hear a series of beeps or tones.  Some are soft and some are loud.  You will be asked to indicate when you hear the tone sometimes by pressing a button, sometimes by raising your hand.  This test will give us an idea of your threshold (the softest sound you can hear) levels for different frequencies (pitches).  Typically we asses the frequencies from 250Hz to 8000Hz.  Although there are sounds above and below both those frequencies there is little to no speech information contained within that region.

Pure Tone Bone Conduction Testing

To administer this test, a small device that vibrates will be placed behind one ear at a time.  If the hearing levels in both ears are similar this test will usually be done with the vibrator device behind one ear only.  The remainder of the test is the same as the pure tone air conduction test

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Speech Discrimination Testing

Since it’s important to determine not just how well you hear tones but also how well you’re able to understand the spoken word we administer speech tests.  The speech discrimination test is administered at a level that is comfortable for you, not to loud and not too soft.  You will hear a series of words.  You will be asked to repeat each word back, one at a time.

Consultation

Finally, we sit down with you and explain the results and what it all means. We believe your journey to better hearing should be a partnership with you and your hearing healthcare provider.  And we believe that journey should begin by making sure you’re as well informed as possible about any problems we might find and all possible solutions to those problems.

See more information on www.newtonhearing.com

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