A hearing test is an appointment that involves measuring the sensitivity of your hearing across the complete range of speech. A hearing health professional will measure the quietest sounds you are able to hear during several points throughout the full speech range. This type of hearing test is known as an audiogram.
If you are booked in for a hearing test, it is important to ensure that you make the most of this appointment. You will want to speak to your hearing health professional about any problems you are experiencing in terms of communication. Are you experiencing any trouble with hearing? Has your confidence taken a hit? Have other people picked up on differences in terms of how high you have the volume on the television, for instance? You will also need to discuss any related issues you may be experiencing.
While it can be difficult to talk about these things, it is vital to be as open as possible, as this will ensure you get the right degree of help. If you find it especially difficult to hear clearly while you are in groups, this is something that you should make your hearing health professional aware of.
It can often be a good idea to take another person with you to your hearing appointment. Two heads can be better than one when it comes to remembering all of the critical information that the hearing health professional is going to tell you.
You are probably going to want to know what you should expect from your hearing test. When a hearing health professional carries out your test, they will introduce themselves and they will speak about what is going to take place. This should put your mind at ease. It is also a good opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have about what is going to take place.
Your hearing health professional is then going to take a look inside your ears. The reason they do this is to make sure that there are not any reasons why the test would not be able to be performed. They will also want to ensure you are not experiencing a wax blockage. Sometimes, people experience hearing loss because their ears are blocked with wax and this needs to be professionally removed.
After this, your hearing health professional is going to want to know about your hearing history. They will ask you when your first started to notice any issues. They will also ask about any other problems you have had to deal with, if you have had any injuries or infections as of late and whether or not your hearing issues developed suddenly or started to creep up over time.
The audiologist will then perform an audiogram so that they can test your hearing. This test tends to take between 20-30 minutes. The test will involve a number of different sounds being played to you via headphones. You are then going to be informed that you should respond in a specific way if that sound has been heard normally. For example, you may be asked to press a button, irrespective of how faint or quiet the sound is.
This will be done in one ear, and then the test will be carried out on the other ear. This is because sometimes people have hearing loss in one ear, yet not in the other.
Once the test has been carried out, the hearing health professional will assess the results and they will explain them to you. There are two ways that sound is measured. The first is in decibels (dB) and this is used to measure volume or level. The second is hertz (Hz) and this is used to measure frequency or pitch, whether low or high. These two measurements are probably going to be mentioned when your hearing health professional is explaining the results to you.
If you have any questions about your hearing test or the results you have received, the best thing to do is ask your hearing health professional. Do not be afraid to ask as many questions as you have. You could also take a notebook with you so that you can write down any information that is relevant. This will make sure you do not forget anything later down the line.
Learn more about Hear Again America today or book a hearing test and contact us at 877-905-9493.