How is Hearing Loss Diagnosed?

When you are worried about your health, you need to speak to the right person to help you get the treatment you need. When you start to worry about your sight, you seek the help of an eye specialist. When it’s your hearing, it’s an audiologist that you need to see so that you can have your hearing thoroughly tested, any issues diagnosed and a treatment plan developed.

Does it hurt?

Getting your hearing tested for hearing loss is not a painful or scary procedure. They are painless and safe, and your hearing will be tested for tones at various volumes. The results are plotted on an audiogram to help your audiologist to diagnose the hearing loss that you are experiencing.

How is hearing loss diagnosed?

An audiologist will talk to you calmly through your medical history and your lifestyle, as the causes for hearing loss can be due to these. Then, you’ll sit through some tests to check the level of hearing loss – if any – in each ear. You will be checked with a pure-tone audiometry test, which will assess the lowest sounds that you can hear in each ear. This is performed over different frequencies. You won’t be on a table, but in a soundproof booth with headphones on. The tones are played in either ear through the headphones, one at a time, so that the level of hearing in each ear can be tested. You will indicate what you can hear by pressing a button, helping the audiologist to understand what you can hear and when. You won’t be there for excessive lengths of time, either, as the test only takes a maximum of 30 minutes.

Will they physically check my ears?

Yes. Your audiologist will take a look at the outer structure of your ears as well as the inside, as they can tell whether there is an issue with your hearing and whether you have a build up of earwax this way. They will also check for any issues in your ear canal, eardrum and middle ear using a tool called an otoscope.

What happens after the test?

Once you have had your hearing test, the audiologist will use the audiogram and the findings from the physical examination to diagnose the severity of your hearing loss. They will then work with you toward a course of treatment, whether this is medication for an infection or an appointment to fit you with hearing aids to help you to hear properly once more. In very rare cases, a minor surgery can help you to hear again, and your audiologist can recommend to you what should come next.

A diagnosis of hearing loss doesn’t mean that you are profoundly deaf; even mild hearing loss needs a helping hand occasionally. Take the time to make an appointment and you can get the answers you need for your peace of mind.