When it comes to having a hearing test, accuracy is of the utmost importance.
At Ear Sense, we offer a hearing screen test which is a short appointment to determine if your hearing is within normal range.
We also offer full hearing assessments. These include a range of diagnostic tests which give much more information about the type of hearing loss you have and the location of the hearing loss in your ears. Testing a full range of frequencies helps to diagnose hearing losses more accurately and using both air and bone conduction helps to locate the origin of the hearing loss. Taking the time to be more precise means any future hearing aid fitting can be tailored to your loss with extreme accuracy enhancing the outcome for you. Your success with wearing hearing aids is in part reliant on an accurate assessment of your hearing.
All hearing assessments start with a thorough examination of your ears. At Ear Sense we use video otoscopy which allows you to see inside your own ears (if you want to) whilst the examination is taking place. It allows us to identify any obstructions like earwax and check for any abnormalities of the ear canal and eardrum.
Next is the hearing test itself. We call this Pure Tone Audiometry. We use both air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) measures along with masking. This information gives us the exact nature, severity and cause of any hearing loss you may have.
Speech Discrimination in Noise testing is a further test to better understand the difficulties you face with your hearing loss. A hearing test measures pure tones. It is a subjective test which tells us what level of sound you can hear. A speech discrimination tests tells us what you do with that sound. It mimics real life far more. Once fitted with hearing aids, this test is repeated to assess the benefit with your hearing aids.
A full explanation of your examination and test results is given during the appointment. A report detailing everything we have discussed during the appointment along with all the test results is sent to you following the appointment for your records. If a referral needs to be made with another professional such as Ear Nose and Throat (ENT), this will be discussed with you during the appointment and the referral made alongside a copy of the report.
