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Hearing Loss - What Happens During a Hearing Test
By Val Bedard
If you think you have a hearing loss, consult your doctor who will determine firstly if the hearing loss can be remedied i.e. ear wax, infection, etc. You could be referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist if a medically treatable cause for the hearing loss is determined. If all is well with your ears with no medical reason for your hearing loss, you will be referred for a hearing test. A thorough evaluation by an audiologist or hearing aid provider is important to determine the type and degree of hearing loss or what hearing aid options may be available.
A hearing test begins but sitting in a sound proof booth and you will be asked to push a button or raise your hand when you hear a sound. You will hear tones or beeping sounds that vary in pitch from bass, or low pitch, to treble, or high pitched sounds. When you push the button or raise your hand, the tester records the result on a graph which is your audiogram.
The audiogram is a "snapshot" of your hearing sensitivity. On the top of the audiogram are numbers that represent different pitches or frequencies which are measured in hertz (Hz), or cycles per second. The audiogram will show which sounds you barely heard in frequencies ranging from low frequency sounds of 125 Hz to high frequency sounds of 8000 Hz. For example, on the piano "middle C" registers at 250 Hz and birds "chirp" at about 6000 Hz.
On the left side of the audiogram are numbers representing the loudness of sounds. Soft sounds appear on the top of the audiogram while loud sounds appear on the bottom. These are measured by loudness or intensity of sound in decibels (dB). In this scale of measurement 20 dB is not twice as loud as 10 dB - rather it is 10 times as loud. 30 dB is 10 times as loud as 20 dB. The increase is logarithmic, and 60 dB is actually one million times as loud as 10 dB. This explains why hearing loss is not measured as percentage of loss. Traditionally, hearing loss is described as mild, moderate, moderately severe, severe, or profound.
Speech discrimination is where they will test you on your ability to understand what is being said. A list of words will be read to you one at a time and you have to repeat what you have heard. This test will determine how much a hearing aid will help you. If you score low on this test, a hearing aid will simply amplify sounds that you were not able to clearly understand. You may hear certain frequencies well while struggling on others, a hearing aid will help with the "good" frequencies and offer a little with the "not-so-good" frequencies but with speech reading and coping techniques you can adjust.
So the degree of your hearing loss will appear on the audiogram quite easily. The audiologist or hearing aid provider will be able to determine which hearing aid is best for you based on your audiogram. After your test, your audiologist or hearing aid provider will review with you your test results and explain what all the numbers on the graph mean.
Look in your telephone book in the yellow pages for "Audiologist" or "Hearing Aids" and call a few numbers and ask if they provide hearing tests and how much do they charge. Meet a few so determine if you are comfortable with them as you want to find someone that you trust and like spending time with and feel confident that you can ask a lot of questions. Getting a hearing aid does have a "learning curve" and it does take time to get used to so be prepared to have an adjustment period. Pretty soon, you'll wonder how you got by without your hearing aid!
Val Bedard has a profound hearing loss since birth. She owns her own business Hear Well Services Ltd. (http://www.hearwell.ca), sells assistive listening devices for the hearing impaired, can be reached via email at info@hearwell.ca or by telephone at 1-888-549-2092.
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