Your First Visit to Hearing Clinic?

PATIENTS BACKGROUND

Initial visit to hearing clinic to be as pleasant as possible. Knowing what to expect will help you feel more at ease about coming in and having your hearing checked.

You will be asked series of questions in order to get to know your current communication needs and health history as it relates to your hearing. This would help the audiologist in determining the extent of your hearing loss and uncover any specific areas that may require further attention. Identifying whether a medical condition is contributing to hearing loss is a first step in finding the right solution to meet your individual needs. In some cases, medical treatment may be more appropriate than amplification.

SOME TYPICAL QUESTIONS

• Any of your family members diagnosed with hearing loss ?
• Have you had any illnesses or injuries which may have affected your hearing?
• Have you taken any medications known to affect your hearing health?
• Your exposure to any loud noises on your job or through any of your leisure activities (motorcycle use, drum playing, etc.)?
• Have you been having trouble understanding speech in certain environments like restaurants or movies?

HEARING ASSESSMENT

In your first visit to hearing Clinic your hearing assessment would be done. In order to determine the nature of your specific hearing loss, audiologist will perform several painless and non-invasive tests, and will document your results on an audiogram. This assessment typically takes a total of 15-30 minutes.

THE HEARING ASSESSMENT MAY INCLUDE:

• Otoscopy: Visualization of your outer ear with a special light called an otoscope, or a Video otoscope.
• Audiometric Pure Tone Evaluation: Measurement of your hearing for tones at different frequencies.
• Speech Evaluation: Measurement of how well you hear and understand
• Immittance Middle Ear Evaluation: Measurement of how your eardrum functions in response to varying degrees of air pressure.
• Have you been having trouble understanding speech in certain environments like restaurants or movies?

TREATMENT OPTIONS

On completing all the tests the audiologist will explain you the results related to the hearing issues. The audiologist will also discuss with you the various treatment options available, which may be best fit for your unique situation thus ensuring you get better quality of life henceforth.