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During Hearing Health Awareness Month, the team has been working hard to give you further insights into how to achieve improved hearing.
One of the essential first steps on this journey is receiving a full hearing assessment.
But the truth is, not many people know what happens during these incredibly precise and painless examinations.
So we’ve put together a short guide of what you can expect when you first decide to walk through our doors.
A warm introduction
When you begin your pathway to better hearing, you’ll start with a warm greeting from your personal doctor of audiology.
Initially, they’ll just want to find out a little more about you and discuss the particular concerns you have about your hearing.
It will be especially important for them to learn about your full medical history, as this can reveal clues about the existence of a hearing condition.
After gaining all of these valuable insights, they can begin to examine how your hearing is functioning.
The visual inspection
After this, your doctor of audiology will take a look inside your ears to see if there are any obvious issues affecting your hearing.
This will include the inner and outer areas – both points where a problem might be lingering.
In particular, they’ll look to see if there’s any fluid or swelling behind your eardrum or within your ear canal, which can cause an infection.
But they’ll also look for foreign objects or earwax build-up, which might be stopping sounds from transmitting through your ears.
The hearing test
Now comes the stage you may remember from childhood, where a doctor of audiology will measure how well you can hear various types of sounds.
This takes place in the dedicated sound booth, where you’ll put on a pair of headphones and listen to selected noises.
For the first test, you’ll just have to press a button when you hear a beep – which your doctor of audiology will steadily reduce in volume and harshness.
Then, they’ll ask you to repeat certain words amid different background noises, analyzing how well you can react in these different circumstances.
The results
After this final part of the assessment is complete, your doctor of audiology will bring you back to their office to review the results.
If these reveal that you’d benefit from further medical assistance or surgical procedures, then you’ll be referred to a local ENT surgeon.
But if you’re a good candidate for hearing aids or other forms of technological assistance, your doctor of audiology will be able to discuss the best options with you right away.
Many patients leave our offices with amazing new treatments, experiencing a whole world of forgotten sounds in an instant.
Are you concerned about a hearing loss or know someone who might be? Contact the friendly team at one of the three Cornerstone Audiology offices, and they’d be happy to offer you further information.
