Hearing Evaluations

A hearing evaluation can determine if you have a hearing loss, as well as the nature of the loss. The tests are not uncomfortable or painful.

A hearing healthcare professional will begin by asking about your medical and hearing history.

Next, an otoscope is used to do a visual examination of your ears.

The third part of the evaluation consists of various listening tests in a sound-treated room while wearing earphones. The tests may include listening to various tones to see what pitches you can hear or repeating words to determine your most comfortable listening level.

The results from the listening test are plotted on a graph called an audiogram. An audiogram is arranged with the frequencies across the top. They are labeled in hertz, with low (bass) pitches on the left and high (treble) pitches on the right. The intensity is arranged down the left side. The decibel scale goes from –10 dB to 110 dB. The further down the scale, the more intense the signal must be to be audible.

A sample audiogram

After the hearing test is completed, the hearing healthcare professional will explain the results, including the type and degree of hearing loss and how well speech is understood in each ear. The recommendations, such as the need for hearing aids, will be discussed.