Diagnosing Hearing Loss
September 16th, 2010 by admin
Hearing loss can be tested and diagnosed in any number of ways and to many levels of sophistication.A few of the most common testing processes include:
- History The audiologist will generally ask questions pertaining to the types and levels of noise you have been exposed to throughout your life as well as information about past illnesses. This helps in determining the best tests to be performed in your hearing loss assessment.
- Physical Exam The audiologist will most likely look into the ear with a device known as an Otoscope which will help determine if there are any physical abnormalities present.
- Pure Tone Tests In a sound proof room the audiologist will perform tone tests to determine variations in hearing frequencies. Each ear will be tested separately as well as a combined hearing assessment.
- Speech Testing Similar to Pure Tone Tests, this test is also performed in a sound proof room where the audiologist administers a series of words of varying syllabic length. This helps to assess the level at which speech can not only be heard, but understood.
- Middle Ear Test Often the audiologist will check the middle ear with a probe in what is called an impedance test.
Once these tests (or others your audiologist may determine necessary) have been completed, an audiogram is charted and graphed. The purpose of the audiogram is to “quantify and qualify” the extent of hearing loss.
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