When you have your hearing tested at Experience Hearing, one of our audiologists will be available to walk you through all the steps and answer any questions you might have about the process.
If you suspect you may have hearing loss, it is important to seek proper testing and evaluation by an audiologist. Not only can untreated hearing loss be frustrating to cope with, it can also lead to social anxiety, isolation and withdrawal.
The purpose of an audiological evaluation is to determine whether a hearing loss exists, and if so, the type and severity of your hearing impairment needs to be established.
At Experience hearing, one of our qualified audiologists will guide you through the steps of a comprehensive hearing evaluation. We apply best practice principles to all our testing and make use of a variety of tests to ensure the most accurate results.
We include the following tests in our test battery:
Some of the hearing tests we utilize include:
Otoscopy: The outer ear, ear canal and eardrum are checked for any wax, foreign objects, or pathologies.
Tympanometry is used to evaluate the movement of the eardrum and middle ear. It is useful in determining if the middle ear has abnormal air pressure, has fluid in the middle ear cavity or if a perforation is present
Pure Tone testing is used to determine the softest level at which a sound can be heard at different frequencies. During pure tone testing we can also determine where the hearing loss occurs (middle ear/inner ear) and if the hearing loss is symmetric or asymmetric.
Word recognition testing is conducted using recorded speech. We evaluate how well you can hear speech stimuli in a quiet and noisy environment.
Oto-acoustic emission testing (OAE) is a quick, easy and objective test to assess the functioning of your cochlea.
Additional tests can be done depending on the specific need:
Conditioned Play Audiometry is done for children, between the ages of 2 and 5 years old. This method allows the audiologist to assess the child’s hearing sensitivity by conditioning them to respond to sound through playing games and using toys. The with headphones, or insert earphones. During the procedure one parent / caregiver can remain with the child in the testing room to ensure they feel comfortable and safe throughout the procedure.
Tinnitus matching is done to try and determine the pitch and loudness at which your tinnitus is perceived. This, along with determining your Minimal Masking Level is valuable information for further tinnitus treatment options.
Auditory Brainstem Response evaluation (ABR) evaluates the auditory neural pathway and can estimate hearing thresholds by measuring the brain’s response to sound. During this evaluation the patient must remain quiet, but no other cooperation is required. Testing can be performed under natural sleep, or sedation in our practice along with a registered anaesthetist. This can also be done in hospital under general anaesthesia. This is a valuable test when testing the difficult to test population including children and persons with a disability. It is also often used during medical-legal evaluations.