Noticing changes in your hearing often happens in day-to-day situations. You may find yourself missing parts of a conversation at the dinner table or turning the television up higher than you used to.
HearSouth Audiology works with residents throughout Madison County to better understand those changes through comprehensive hearing evaluations. Our audiologists measure different aspects of hearing, including how well you hear certain sounds and how clearly you process speech.
What to Expect During an Evaluation
A comprehensive hearing assessment is straightforward and usually takes less than an hour. Your appointment begins with a conversation about your daily routine, medical history and the specific environments where you struggle to hear.
Next, we check your ear canals for physical obstructions like wax buildup. From there, the listening tests begin. You will hear a series of tones and words at various pitches and volumes to identify which frequencies need a boost.
Common Types of Hearing Tests
Evaluating your auditory health involves several distinct measurements to isolate where your hearing can use some support.
These targeted assessments allow us to pinpoint the exact nature of any changes:
- Pure-tone testing: You wear headphones and listen to a variety of pitches to find the quietest sounds you can hear at each frequency.
- Speech testing: This measures your ability to hear and repeat back spoken words at different volumes in a quiet environment, helping us understand how clearly you process everyday conversation.
- Speech in noise testing: This evaluates how well you can understand speech when there’s background noise present, simulating real-world situations like restaurants or busy gatherings.
Understanding Your Audiogram Results
Once your test is done, we map the results onto an audiogram and go over it with you right then and there. It’s a simple chart that shows where your hearing is strong and where it’s starting to drop off, and we walk through all of it in plain terms.
You’ll see how each ear is performing on its own and how well you’re picking up speech when there’s noise in the background. That information helps us figure out why certain sounds have become harder to hear.