What to Expect on Your First Visit to an Audiologist?
Hearing is a critical sense that connects us to the world, and its impairment can significantly affect our quality of life. Visiting an audiologist, like the professional team at American Hearing Centers in New Jersey, is a critical part of a medical wellness evaluation. Contrary to popular belief, hearing tests aren’t just for people with hearing loss. Everyone can benefit from periodic checkups. If you’re visiting an audiology center for the first time, proper planning will help ensure you have a productive and beneficial consultation with the hearing doctor.
What Is an Audiologist?
An audiologist is a healthcare professional specializing in identifying, diagnosing, treating, and monitoring disorders of the auditory and vestibular systems of the ear. These experts have extensive training and qualifications in this area. What does an audiologist do? You can visit one for just about anything related to your ears, such as getting a hearing test, hearing aid fittings, tinnitus management, ear protection, and help with other ear issues.
Preparing for Your Appointment
Before your appointment, gather any relevant medical and hearing history to help the audiologist better understand your situation. It’s important to keep in mind that things like health conditions and genetics can affect hearing loss in addition to age. Does anyone in your family have significant hearing loss? Do you have a medical issue or disease that could affect your ears? Be open and honest with the hearing care provider. Remember to bring any necessary documents and insurance information to streamline your visit.
The Initial Evaluation
Your initial hearing assessment will be thorough and include a discussion about how your hearing affects communicating with others or if hearing the television or music on the radio is difficult. These are important indicators. It will also include a variety of tests. Each is designed to assess different functions of the ear to gather an overall diagnosis of your hearing ability. The most frequent tests include the following:
- Otoscopy – The audiologist will examine the inside of the ear using an otoscope to get a clear view of the canal and eardrum. Most people have had this performed at an annual health exam at some point in their lives.
- Tone Tests – You’ll wear a pair of headphones and listen for a series of tones played at different frequencies to test how well you can hear low and high-pitched sounds. As you hear the tones, you’ll acknowledge them verbally or by raising your hand or pushing a button.
- Speech Discrimination Tests – This test is performed much like a tone test, but it evaluates your ability to distinguish speech. Many people with symptoms of hearing loss have trouble following conversations.
- Tympanometry Tests – Part of the way you hear is through the vibrations made by the eardrum sent to the inner ear for processing. A tympanometry test gauges the health of the eardrum and how it reacts to sound.
- Bone Conduction Tests – If a patient has an issue with or damage to the outer or middle part of the ear, a bone conduction test can bypass those areas to test the health of the inner ear through vibrations of a bone conduction instrument.
Discussing Your Results
After the tests, the audiologist will explain your results and what they mean. There are three types of hearing loss; if any is present, the hearing care provider will explain which one you have and what it means. They will also discuss if it’s mild, moderate, severe, or profound loss. It will be helpful to be familiar with the following:
- Sensorineural Hearing Loss – This is the most common type and is caused by various factors, including age, head trauma, and exposure to loud noise. It occurs when there is damage to the cochlea or the auditory nerve. There isn’t a cure for this kind, but it can be improved with hearing aids.
- Conductive Hearing Loss – If an obstruction or abnormality of the outer or middle ear keeps sound from traveling to the inner ear, it falls into this category. Often, this type can be reversed through natural healing of the cause or a surgical procedure to remove the blockage, such as earwax removal.
- Mixed Hearing Loss – Anyone with hearing loss caused by both the issues above has mixed hearing loss.
Choosing and Fitting Hearing Aids
If hearing aids are recommended, the audiologist will explain the different types of hearing aids available and help you select and customize the right one to fit your needs and lifestyle. For the best experience and long-lasting improvement in hearing, you should work with a hearing care provider during this critical decision. There are many high-quality options available with fantastic choices to meet different budgets. Plus, a team like ours is here for ongoing support and maintenance for:
- Free hearing aid trial periods
- Regular hearing checkups
- Hearing aid adjustments
- Device cleaning and maintenance
Schedule Your Free Hearing Test and Evaluation
Don’t hesitate to seek professional audiology services in New Jersey at an American Hearing Centers location if you’ve noticed changes in your hearing. Visiting an audiologist can be the first step to taking control of your hearing health, and we make it simple by offering a free hearing test and evaluation for everyone. Locate a hearing care center near you and contact us to schedule your complimentary exam.
