Have you noticed that sounds are becoming more difficult to hear or understand? Are you constantly turning up the volume on the television? If you’re tired of asking your friends and family to repeat themselves, it may be time to schedule a hearing test with a qualified hearing specialist.
At El Dorado Hearing, you’ll undergo a series of hearing tests to help determine the cause and extent of your hearing loss. These tests allow our team to identify the type and degree of hearing loss you may have, helping us develop a personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs.
There are several types of hearing tests, and most are safe and painless. To help ease your worries before your appointment with El Dorado Hearing, we’ve put together a guide to the different types of hearing tests.
Pure Tone Testing
Pure tone testing is one of the first tests an individual may undergo. It is also one of the most familiar hearing tests, as many schools conduct hearing screenings for students periodically. During this test, you’ll wear headphones and listen to tones at different pitches and volumes to measure your ability to hear sounds through air conduction.
Whenever you hear a tone through the headphones, you’ll be asked to raise your hand or press a button to indicate that you heard it. The results help your audiologist determine the quietest sounds you can hear at different frequencies.
Bone Conduction Testing
If your audiologist suspects that a problem in the outer or middle ear may be affecting your hearing, they may perform a bone conduction test alongside pure tone testing. This test measures how well your inner ear responds to sound by placing a small vibrator behind your ear. The device sends gentle vibrations through the bone to stimulate the inner ear.
Similar to pure tone testing, the results are recorded on an audiogram, which helps your audiologist compare your hearing responses to different tones and determine the type of hearing loss you may have.
Speech Testing
Speech testing measures your ability to hear and understand spoken words. It may be performed alongside pure tone testing to provide a more complete picture of your hearing ability. Depending on the test, your hearing specialist may assess your ability to recognize words in quiet conditions or understand speech in the presence of background noise.
During the test, you’ll listen to words presented at different sound levels and repeat what you hear. This helps your hearing specialist evaluate how well you detect and understand speech.
Tympanometry
If your audiologist needs to assess your middle ear function, they may perform tympanometry. This test measures how your eardrum moves in response to changes in air pressure. A small probe is placed in the ear canal to change the pressure and measure the movement of the eardrum.
Tympanometry can help identify problems such as fluid behind the eardrum, eardrum stiffness, or other issues affecting middle ear function. It does not directly diagnose every possible cause of hearing loss, so additional tests may be needed depending on your symptoms.
Acoustic Reflex Testing
Another way to evaluate middle ear function is through acoustic reflex testing. This test measures how the small muscles in the middle ear respond to loud sounds. A probe placed in the ear canal measures changes associated with this reflex.
The results can help your audiologist assess the function of parts of the auditory system and determine whether additional testing is needed to understand the cause of your hearing loss.
Schedule a Hearing Test with El Dorado Hearing of Tucson
To help you manage your hearing health, we provide comprehensive hearing evaluations at El Dorado Hearing. Our experienced hearing specialists offer in-depth assessments to determine whether you have hearing loss and how it may be affecting your ability to hear and understand sounds. Get started by taking our hearing quiz.
We strive to make our hearing clinics comfortable and welcoming for everyone. Following your hearing evaluation, we’ll discuss your results and help you explore appropriate treatment options, including hearing aids when suitable. For personalized hearing testing in Tucson, AZ, consider El Dorado Hearing.
If you are ready to take control of your hearing health, visit one of our hearing clinics. Contact us today to schedule an appointment with one of our caring and experienced hearing specialists!