Do you experience any of the following?
- Difficulty communicating in group situations.
- Struggling to hear in background noise such as a restaurant or café.
- Needing others to repeat themselves regularly.
- Requiring the TV and radio at a significantly higher volume than others.
- Difficulty hearing when being spoken to from a distance or when not face to face with others.
- Choosing to avoid or withdraw from social situations due to communication difficulties.
If you answered yes to any of the above it may be worth having a full audiological
assessment carried out by a clinical audiologist.
Otoscopy allows us to examine the ear canal and ear drum. It can help identify physical abnormalities which may contribute to a hearing loss. It involves the Audiologist looking into the ear with a light; it is both a safe and comfortable procedure. It assesses the health of the outer portion of the ear.
Video otoscopy allows the image to be displayed on the computer for you to visualise also.
Tympanometry records eardrum movement in response to a change in pressure. It is useful in detecting conditions such as middle ear fluid (glue ear), ear drum perforations and Eustachian tube dysfunction.
Pure Tone Audiometry is a hearing assessment which identifies the softest sound you can hear at a range of different frequencies using headphones. A bone vibrator is then placed behind your ear to identify the softest sound you can hear when the outer and middle ear is bypassed, thus directly stimulating the hearing organ. Doing this aids us in identifying
whether your hearing loss is caused by a problem in the middle ear or inner ear.
Speech testing is used along with audiometry to determine the functional impact of the hearing loss. It also helps us to predict a patient’s level of success with a hearing aid. During this test, the audiologist presents a series of words for the patient to repeat. Speech in Noise testing is another form of speech test, to determine a person’s difficulty hearing in
background noise. This test offers valuable information as background noise is the primary complaint of the majority of people with hearing loss. Speech testing is also often carried out following a hearing aid fitting, to quantify the benefit of the hearing aid.
