Specialized Hearing Assessment: Things to Know!
Hearing assessment is an assessment of a person’s hearing abilities by an expert audiologist using modern medical equipment, such as audiometers and other tests.
The purpose of the test is to see how intact and sensitive a person’s hearing is. It may include the assessment of sensitivity to speech, frequencies, pitch, tone, or any other component of hearing.
Let’s find out more details!
Ear Examination and Hearing Assessment
Ear examination is an integral part of a hearing evaluation. Audiologists examine your ear with the help of an otoscope in order to see whether your hearing problems are due to a physiological problem or due to other factors, such as wax.
During ear examination, the eardrum and the middle ear are the most prominent parts of the ear that the audiologists check.
This is important because most of the time, hearing problems are not due to abnormalities in the ears. Often what causes hearing problems are genetic, neurological, infection, trauma, or age-related issues.
Prominent Causes of Hearing Loss/Difficulty
The most prominent causes of hearing loss, or hearing difficulty, include:
- Exposure to excessively loud noises
- Using tools that are very loud without wearing noise-reducing headsets
- Loud music
- Head injury
- Ear injury
- Infections
- Excessive ear wax
- Genetic predisposition
- Aging
Types of Hearing Assessment?
The most widely used hearing assessment techniques and procedures include:
- Pure Tone Testing
This type of hearing assessment is oriented towards checking the patient’s ability to hear and distinguish between sounds of different tones and pitches.
- Speech Reception Threshold Testing
This test measures a patient’s ability to hear and understand speech. It measures how accurately patients can hear faint sounds. It also measures how accurately they can distinguish speech from noise.
- Tympanometry
This test examines the anatomy and physiology of the eardrum as well as its sensitivity to pressure.
Importance of Hearing Assessment
A hearing assessment is important because normal hearing is an integral part of communication. The inability to properly communicate with people due to hearing difficulties can be very frustrating. It’s also important for balance. Moreover, if you are on the road, not hearing a vehicle’s horn may kill you.
Summing Up:
Hearing is quintessential to maintaining the quality of life. Hence, you should seek the help of professional services like Audiologie Centre Ouest test auditif. Experts at this firm will assess your problems and help you overcome them, even if they are as complicated as Auditory Processing Disorder (APD).