Hearing loss can be related to allergies or head colds with the buildup of sinuses. While there can be severe and permanent hearing loss, at times, it is reversible. A series of steps are performed to test your hearing for doctors to determine the severity of hearing loss. These allow the patient a variety of treatments. The environment where hearing tests take place is designed for sound tests and hearing loss. Therefore your diagnosis can be more precise. The procedure is painless and takes between fifteen and twenty minutes.
Pure-tone audiometry hearing tests
You will first be tested by what you hear through a pair of earphones. The earphones will emit different sounds and pitches to detect what your ears are capable of hearing.
Speech audiometry hearing tests
is the second part of the hearing exam. The patient repeats what they hear in live speech or recording. This exercise allows audiologists to understand how loud words are received when someone says them. Also, the test shows how clear words are recognized at the volume the words are spoken.
The pure-tone and speech audiometry hearing tests are required. However, audiologists also do a thorough examination of your eardrum and middle ear. This part of the process is imperative to diagnose if the damage is irreversible or fixable.
Tympanometry hearing tests
Additional exercises to test the eardrum include tympanometry, which measures the flexibility of the eardrum, and real-world hearing ability tests. The “real world” test will play noise in the background of words to see if you may identify close speech as opposed to the white noise of the world.
The results of a tympanometry procedure are very informational and clarify the issues at hand. It gives a variety of information, including blockages in the eardrum, such as fluid, scarring, and growth that may occur in the middle ear.
Through a variety of procedures used by an audiologist, they can provide comfort and direction to the best solution for you. When consulting your doctor, ask them about additional examinations to improve the chances of your hearing.
