Why is a hearing evaluation important to you? Hearing is one of our critical senses and, when this sense is not working well, we lose the ability to effectively monitor our environment for safety and to effectively communicate. Therefore, hearing reduction frequently results in a perception of isolation and a compromised quality of life. Hearing evaluations provide a measure of how well an individual performs when compared with others. Audiologists are the professionals best trained to administer these evaluations.

Case History: Some general health information is obtained along with more specific ear and hearing information.

Speech and Pure-tone Audiometry: Earphones are used to deliver frequency-specific tones to each ear separately. This is a subjective test that requires a patient to indicate when the tone is heard. Words are also presented as part of this evaluation and the individual is asked to repeat what they have heard.

Acoustic Immittance Evaluation: This is an objective assessment that requires no response from the individual. Information about the status of the eardrum, the middle ear, and the middle ear bones is obtained in this manner as well as a measurement of a reflex pathway that travels through the brainstem.

Otoacoustic Emissions Evaluation: Another objective assessment can determine the status of the inner ear nerves by introducing sounds at various frequencies into the ear canal and measuring the response from the cochlea (inner ear).

The results of these evaluations are then explained to you in a manner that you can understand. If you have further questions or information is provided to you that you don't understand, we strongly encourage you to ask questions. Recommendations are also made if medical treatment is advised or if a fitting of hearing devices is appropriate for your situation.

Conductive: This type of hearing reduction occurs in approximately 5% of adult cases. It is a reduction in hearing sensitivity resulting from impairment of sound transmission through the ear canal, the eardrum (tympanic membrane), the middle ear, and the middle ear bones (ossicles) to the inner ear where the hearing nerves are located. The reduction in sound transmission can occur because of such occurrences as an obstruction (such as ear wax or cerumen) in the ear canal, an ear drum defect (perforation or stiffness), fluid in the middle ear (possible infection), or a problem with the middle ear bones (discontinuity or otosclerosis).

Neural (nerve): This type of hearing reduction occurs in the remaining 95% of the adult population that we evaluate. It results from damage to the inner ear nerves (hair cells) and/or the auditory nerve fibers that transmit sound to the brain. Neural, or sensorineural hearing loss as it is commonly called, hearing loss can result from such occurrences as aging (presbycusis), genetics, noise or head trauma, ototoxicity (medications that are toxic to the ear nerves), disease, or tumors.

It is a good idea to have a baseline hearing evaluation performed even if you do not think you have a hearing problem, particularly for people from the age of 40 years. It's important to monitor your hearing ability along with the other physical evaluations that we are encouraged to obtain, such as eyes, teeth, etc. Early recognition of any abnormality improves our ability to assist you with any problem that is reported or diagnosed.