Self-diagnosing hearing loss is pretty much impossible. To illustrate, you can’t really assess your level of hearing by merely putting your ear near a speaker. So getting a hearing test will be crucial in understanding what’s happening with your hearing.
Now, before you begin sweating or fidgeting anxiously, it’s important to mention that most hearing tests are rather easy and require nothing more taxing than wearing a pair of fancy headphones.
But we get it, people don’t like tests. Whether you’re a high school student or middle-aged medical patient, tests are just generally no fun. Taking some time to get to know these tests can help you feel more prepared and, as a result, more comfortable. A hearing test is about the easiest test you’ll ever have to take!
How is a hearing test performed?
Talking about scheduling an appointment to get a hearing test is something that is not that unusual. And the phrase “hearing test” is something we’ve probably discussed on occasion. Maybe, you’ve heard that there are two types of hearing tests and you’re wondering what they’re all about.
Well, that’s not completely accurate. Because it turns out there are a number of different hearing tests you might undergo. Each of these tests will provide you with a specific result and is designed to measure something different. The hearing tests you’re most likely to experience include the following:
- Pure-tone audiometry: Most people are probably familiar with this hearing test. You listen for a tone on a pair of headphones. Hear a tone in your right ear? Put up your right hand. Hear the pitch in your left ear? Same thing! This will test your ability to hear a variety of frequencies at a variety of volumes. It will also measure whether you have more significant hearing loss in one ear than the other.
- Speech audiometry: Sometimes, you’re able to hear tones really well, but hearing speech is still something challenging. That’s because speech is typically more complex! During a speech audiometry test, you’ll be brought into a quiet room and will, once again, be instructed to put on some headphones. You will listen to speech at different volumes to determine the lowest level you can hear words and clearly comprehend them.
- Speech and Noise-in-Words Tests: Of course, real-world conversations rarely happen in a vacuum. The only actual difference between this test and the Speech audiometry test is that it is performed in a noisy setting. This can help you determine how well your hearing is functioning in real-world situations.
- Bone conduction testing: How well your inner ear is working will be established by this test. A small sensor is placed near your cochlea and another is placed on your forehead. A small device then receives sounds. This test tracks how well those sound vibrations move through your inner ear. This test can often identify whether there is a blockage in your ear (ex: if you can’t hear, but your inner ear is working fine there might be some kind of obstruction hindering the sounds).
- Tympanometry: The general health of your eardrum sometimes requires testing. Tympanometry is a test that is utilized for this purpose. Air will be gently blown into your ear so that we can measure how much movement your eardrum has. If you have fluid behind your eardrum, or a hole in your eardrum, this is the test that will reveal that.
- Acoustic Reflex Measures: During this test, a tiny device delivers sound to your ear and measures the muscle response of your inner ear. It all happens by reflex, which means that your muscle movements can reveal a lot about how well your middle ear is working.
- Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR): The ability of your inner ear and brain to respond to sound is measured by an ABR test. This is achieved by placing a couple of tactically placed electrodes on the outside of your skull. Don’t worry, though! This test is entirely painless. It’s one of the reasons why ABR testing is used on everyone from grandparents to newborns!
- Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) Testing: This type of testing will help determine if your inner ear and cochlea are working effectively. It does this by tracking the sound waves that echo back from your inner ear into your middle ear. This can detect whether your cochlea is working or, in some situations, if your ear is blocked.
What do the results of hearing tests reveal?
It’s likely, you probably won’t undergo every single one of these hearing tests. We will pick one or two tests that best address your symptoms and then go from there.
What do we look for in a hearing test? Well, sometimes the tests you take will expose the root cause of your hearing loss. The hearing test you get can, in other instances, simply help us eliminate other causes. Ultimately, we will get to the bottom of any hearing loss symptoms you are noticing.
Here are a few things that your hearing test can uncover:
- Which treatment strategy will be best for your hearing loss: We will be more successfully able to treat your hearing loss once we’ve established the cause.
- Whether your hearing loss is in a particular frequency range.
- Whether you are suffering from hearing loss or experiencing the symptoms related to hearing loss.
- How severe your hearing loss is (or, if you’ve had numerous tests over the years, how your hearing loss might have advanced).
Is there any difference between a hearing screening and a hearing test? The difference between a quiz and a test is an apt analogy. A screening is rather superficial. A test is much more in-depth and can provide usable data.
The sooner you take this test, the better
So as soon as you detect symptoms, you should schedule a hearing test. Don’t worry, this test won’t be super stressful, and you don’t have to study. Nor are hearing tests intrusive or generally unpleasant. We will give you all of the information about what to do and not to do before your hearing test.
Which means hearing tests are fairly easy, all you need to do is schedule them.
