Helping You Hear Better!
FIRST STEPS TO BETTER HEARING
A professional hearing evaluation is the first step toward achieving better hearing. Your audiologist will determine your hearing sensitivity, the type of impairment, and your ability to understand speech. When necessary, tests for loudness tolerance levels and middle ear impedance may be done. You will be referred to your physician for a medical examination if amplification is being considered, or if any signs of ear disease or medically treatable hearing loss are detected.
The medical exam may be done by an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist), or by your family doctor. If a hearing loss is due to a problem requiring medical or surgical treatment, the treatment may improve the hearing enough that a hearing aid is not necessary.
When the degree of hearing loss suggests amplification may be helpful, a hearing aid evaluation can be done. This is a joint venture between you and your audiologist. Communication difficulties and how they relate to your own individual situation, work environment, physical restrictions and lifestyle will be assessed in more depth, and you will be made aware of a wide array of choices in style and type of amplification. You will be asked to make some choices about what aspects of living with amplification are most important to you. The audiologist can give you an educated opinion about how much improvement to expect, and what the limitations are for each of the many types of amplification. In addition to the recommendation of hearing aids, if indicated, the audiologist may offer suggestions for tinnitus coping methods, and for improving communication in other ways. In the end, the information provided by you, and the advice of the audiologist in light of that, should combine to allow you to make a more intelligent choice about the best course of action.
