Hearing tests are an important part of caring for your overall health and wellness. If you’ve noticed that understanding your friends over the grinding beans and customer chatter at Dillanos Coffee Roasters is more difficult, or the high notes in your favorite songs are missing, it’s time to schedule your hearing test. Let’s look at what a hearing test entails to get you ready for your appointment.
An Ear Exam
Your hearing specialist will examine your ears to look for physical blockages, like built-up wax or ear infection fluid, that could be contributing to your hearing concerns. They’ll use a small instrument called an otoscope to look inside your ear canal and check your eardrum.
A Tympanometry Test
Next, your hearing specialist may perform a tympanometry test to see how well your eardrum and middle ear are working. They’ll place a small device called a tympanometer, with a sound port, an air pressure port and a measuring port, in the opening of your ear canal. The tympanometer changes the pressure in your ear canal and plays sound to measure the eardrum’s response.
A Pure Tone Hearing Test
The pure tone hearing test is the part you may think of when you picture a traditional hearing test; many children undergo the pure tone test in elementary school. You’ll sit in a quiet room or hearing booth and wear headphones or small earphones. Your hearing specialist will play a series of beeps and tones at different pitches and volumes.
Whenever you hear a sound, you’ll respond by pressing a button, raising your hand, or following the instructions your hearing specialist provides. The tones will get softer and louder at different pitches to find the quietest sounds you can hear.
We’ll record your results on an audiogram, which is a graph that shows how well you hear different pitches. Your hearing specialist will use this information to determine whether you have hearing loss and, if so, to what degree.
What Happens Next?
After your test, your hearing specialist will go over your results with you and answer any questions you may have. If we find that you have hearing loss, we’ll go over your management options and help you decide what steps make sense for your hearing needs. Some common management options are auditory training, hearing aids and, in cases of profound inner ear hearing loss, cochlear implants.
If you have any questions leading up to your test or need to schedule a new appointment, contact Olympic Hearing & Balance today.
Sources
Cleveland Clinic. (2026]). Ear infection (otitis media): Symptoms, causes & treatment. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8613-ear-infection-otitis-media
Cleveland Clinic. (2023). Earwax blockage: Symptoms, causes & removal. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14428-ear-wax-buildup–blockage