How Does An Audiologist Conduct A Hearing Test?

Having a hearing test is something you may not have needed before, so you may not be sure what to expect during the process. If you are someone who is experiencing hearing loss or have a friend or family member who has been experiencing hearing loss, then scheduling a hearing test with an audiologist is crucial to determine what issues you’re experiencing. When preparing for your hearing test, understanding what will happen can help you feel at ease before the appointment.

A hearing test is something that is simple and non-invasive and is conducted to test someone’s ability to hear a range of sounds, frequencies, and pitches. A hearing test can also be used to check whether hearing aids that someone has been using over time have been making an improvement to hearing. So, hearing tests are something that everyone should be having over time, whether you develop hearing loss or not.

How does a hearing test work?

Our ears have three parts, which include the outer, middle and inner ear. A hearing test can check whether you have hearing loss, which is damage to the nerve or the cochlea inside your ear, or whether you have conductive hearing loss, which is damage to the eardrum or the bones in the ear. There will be a few different tests that are undertaken in a hearing test.

The tone test performed by your audiologist will measure the lowest sound, or the hardest-to-hear sound, that a person can understand. In many cases, this will involve wearing headphones to listen to a range of sounds that can be directed to one ear, and then the second ear. You are then likely to have a word recognition test, which is sometimes called a speech discrimination test. This will check on your ability to hear something and understand something, even if there is some background noise. Individuals with moderate to severe hearing loss often struggle to discern conversation in a crowded environment. The score from this assessment will help an audiologist determine how useful a hearing aid would be to you.

Another evaluation that can occur during this appointment is a tympanometry test. This checks on any issues or potential problems like wax build up inside the ear or fluid inside the ear, as well as checking if eardrums have been perforated, if there are tumors inside the ear, or if the small bones inside the ear have been damaged. You could also have some acoustic reflex testing, which looks at the cranial nerves and brainstem.

What happens during the test?

Your audiologist will conduct the test in a quiet, soundproof room, which ensures the most accurate results. As briefly mentioned above, earphones will be used, and then you will be reminded to sit still and remain silent. The earphones will be connected to a machine and will deliver different tones and sounds to your ears. You will be asked to raise a hand if and when you hear a sound, and it will depend from which ear you heard the sound. In some instances, you may press a button, rather than raise a hand, but either way, it helps the audiologist to find the lowest possible volume that you are able to hear.

For a general hearing test, you could also have tuning forks used to check for different kinds of hearing loss. Then, for the speech discrimination test, you will be advised to repeat back any of the words that you hear through the earphones. There will be some two-syllable, with the volume that they are said getting lower and lower as the test goes on. Then you will hear one-syllable words to repeat back, but the volume won’t change.

The next stage of a hearing test will be the tympanometry and acoustic reflex test. This will involve a soft earplug being put into your ear, which will change in pressure, at one point making quite a large noise to track how you respond. The eardrum movements are measured through this, as well as the muscles in the ear that are attached to the bones in the ear.

If you feel like you want to learn more about your hearing test appointment with an audiologist, get in touch with The Audiology Offices today at: (804) 567-7005.