Comprehensive Hearing Assessments

A Diagnostic Hearing Evaluation Is Your First Step to Better Hearing

Schedule A Hearing Assessment

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Who Is At Risk Of
Hearing Loss?

Age deterioration is the leading cause of hearing loss, but hearing loss can affect individuals of all ages due to a variety of causes, such as:

Birth Defects

Frequent Or Ongoing Exposure To
Loud Noise (Work, Nightclubs, Music In Your Headphones)

Head Trauma

Various Infections, Illnesses And Diseases

Ototoxic Drugs And Medications

Regardless of your age or the cause of your hearing challenges, regular hearing assessments identify the type and severity of your hearing issues and allow your audiologist to develop a treatment plan that fits your unique circumstances.

Audiologist conducting hearing test at Upstate Hearing Aid Center in Greenville

What Happens
During Your
Hearing
Evaluation?

A hearing evaluation by our audiologists is quick, non-invasive, and simple, providing a complete picture of how your audiological system functions from the moment a sound enters your brain to the moment your brain recognizes the sound. To achieve our objective, your diagnostic hearing evaluation will include four main steps:

Step 1. A Conversation
About You

We’re genuinely interested in getting to know our patients, but our initial conversation about your occupation, social activities, and lifestyle also helps to develop a comprehensive understanding of your hearing.

In addition to asking about your medical history, the medications you’re taking, and any family history dealing with hearing loss, we’ll ask about any warning signs you might be experiencing, such as difficulty understanding conversations, stuffiness, or ringing in your ears. Your audiologist will also address any questions or concerns regarding your hearing or our processes.

Step 2. A Physical Examination Of Your Ears

To get a better understanding of what might be causing your hearing challenges, your audiologist will physically examine your ears, looking for damage to the structures of the ear or blockages in the ear canal. During this process, many patients experiencing hearing challenges discover that their condition is not permanent but the result of inflammation from an infection, a growth in the ear canal, a bug, earwax buildup, or a bit of fluff – all of which are easy to correct.

Step 3. Hearing Tests

Nearly all hearing tests are tru-tone and/or speech threshold tests, which involve transmitting a series of tones or spoken words through a set of earphones. During this test, your audiologist will measure your response to different sound frequencies and volume levels to establish what you can and cannot hear.

A bone conduction test, which uses a different type of headset to bypass the conductive structures of the hearing pathway and stimulate a response to sound in the inner ear, helps determine whether your hearing loss is conductive (an obstruction along the hearing pathway) or sensorineural (a problem related to nerve/brain response to sound).

Your audiologist might also conduct a tympanometry test in order to measure how the structures of the middle ear and the eardrum respond to sound.

In some cases, your audiologist might conduct an Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) test to assess the function of the cochlea. When your hearing is normal or near-normal, OAEs are present, but when there are problems with the cochlea, they are absent.

An additional test that is used to measure hearing sensitivity and evaluate the efficiency of the neural pathways to transmit sound within the brainstem is the Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test, which is used to rule out auditory-neurological problems.

Step 4. Reviewing Your Results

Most tests conducted in the healthcare system require patients to wait a few days for the results to come back from the lab, but the results from a hearing evaluation are available during the same office visit.

We believe in educating our patients, so rather than a simple yes or no answer regarding hearing loss, your audiologist will show you the results of your diagnostic evaluation, explain what each test result means, and how each result affects your hearing health.

If treatment for your hearing challenge is necessary, your audiologist will discuss the various treatment options to address your unique type and severity of hearing loss. Hearing aids might be necessary to improve your hearing, but options like surgical procedures, changes to medication and/or ototoxic medication monitoring, tinnitus management, or other treatments might provide a better solution to meet your specific hearing needs.

Unlike a hearing test in a big box store or an online hearing test, your audiologist is able to evaluate your risk of damage to your hearing and the probability of it becoming an issue later on. Consequently, even when your hearing tests “normal,” we’ll discuss how various lifestyle changes might prevent damage to your hearing, like destructive habits, medications, the use of ear protection at work or during certain activities, and other preventive measures.

Meet the Team

Ask The Experts

Your audiologist will be ready to explore all possible causes and solutions for your hearing challenges rather than assuming you need a hearing aid.

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Schedule A Diagnostic Hearing Evaluation

Just knowing whether or not you’re experiencing hearing loss does not provide you with enough answers to determine the best treatment to restore hearing loss or prevent further damage to your hearing.

Our diagnostic hearing evaluation will identify the type and severity of hearing loss so we can customize a better hearing care plan to address your hearing.

Take your first step on the journey to better hearing by scheduling a hearing assessment today.

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Your Name*
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