The Hearing Test -- What to Expect
When you come to Resnick Audiology to have your hearing tested, you can expect a thorough, professional evaluation of your hearing, with the results clearly explained to you immediately following the testing.
A “hearing test” actually consists of several tests that measure various aspects of your auditory system. We use a comfortable, sound-treated test booth and up-to-date test equipment that is calibrated regularly.
Before completing any testing we will do an otoscopic evaluation of your ears in order to determine if there is excessive cerumen, or earwax, that might interfere with the test. We will remove cerumen prior to conducting any tests if necessary.
Step 1
The first part of the test is a pure tone threshold test. This involves listening through headphones for very faint beeps at a range of frequencies in each ear and responding when you just barely hear the sound. Pure tone thresholds are also obtained by bone conduction, where the sounds are presented through vibrations on the bone behind your ear rather than through earphones. This helps us to determine whether a hearing deficit is due to a problem in the inner ear, middle ear, or some combination of the two.
Step 2
After that we conduct several speech tests. The first, a speech reception threshold test (or SRT) involves having you repeat words that get softer and softer, until you can just barely hear them. Then we do a word recognition test, where recorded one-syllable words are presented to each ear at a comfortable listening level and we determine what percentage of words you can correctly identify. We may also conduct speech-in-noise tests, whereby you have to repeat words or sentences while also listening to background noise.
Step 3
After these pure tone and speech tests, we will measure some of the mechanical function of parts of your auditory system. A tympanogram assesses the mobility of your eardrum through a quick, painless pressure change in the ear canal. This test tells us indirectly about the functioning of your Eustachian tube, which connects the middle ear to the back of the nose and throat. We may also do an acoustic reflex test, where louder tones are presented to the ear and a muscle reflex is measured.
At the completion of the testing the results will be thoroughly explained by our audiologists, and a report sent to any of your doctors who might need it (as well as to yourself, if you want to have a copy).
Ultimately, we strive to provide comprehensive, professional diagnostic evaluations in a comfortable, relaxed setting.
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