How Often Should You Go For A Hearing Test?

Hearing tests are incredibly important. Making sure you have them regularly is vital for your hearing health. If you have symptoms of a person with hearing problems such as tinnitus, dizziness, it is therefore necessary to make an appointment for a consultation with a hearing health professional. A hearing instrument specialist is someone who can assist you with a hearing test and this is known as audiometry. The first step is where the patient describes their symptoms, hearing problems and current treatments. 

Is A Hearing Test Important?

A hearing test is essential, here's why:

• Hearing loss often goes unnoticed.
• Hearing can isolate the person from those around them.
• She no longer takes full advantage of her leisure time, depriving herself of meals in restaurants or outings in noisy places.
• Accepting to hear less well is the first step in getting help: a new life begins!

When to Get a Hearing Test?

As soon as you feel discomfort, a buzzing or whistling sound, your loved ones notice that you increase the sound on the television, that you ask them to repeat it more regularly. Don't wait! It is proven that the older we get, the more hearing loss leads to the risk of senility. Make an appointment with your hearing care professional for a free hearing assessment at the first signs!

From the age of 60, it is advisable to carry out a preventive check-up every year, in the same way as you have your eyesight checked. This is called a calibration report: you will thus have a benchmark on what hearing normally is, an essential element to realize that your hearing has decreased! Here again, the earlier they are detected, the more quickly your hearing problems can be remedied. And your social life will be less impacted. 

What to expect?

Your hearing care professional will follow several steps in order to understand, analyze, test and think about the most suitable solution for your hearing problems.

• Understand: A hearing instrument specialist will first talk to you to determine the source of your hearing loss. Do you have a family history? Do you work in a noisy environment? Have you undergone any treatment that could cause damage to the ear, nose and throat sphere? Finally, how is your lifestyle impacted by hearing loss?
• Analyze: A hearing instrument specialist will first examine your ears with an otoscope, a small device equipped with a camera that they will insert into your ear canal. This will allow him to examine your eardrum, pinna and ear canal to determine which part is affected.
• Test: Your hearing instrument specialist will then perform audiometric tests to refine their diagnosis. There are two types: tonal audiometry, which allows you to check your perception of sounds of different frequencies; speech audiometry, in which you will hear a series of words that you will need to repeat. This second part allows you to refine the examination of your understanding of speech, and to detect possible neurological problems. Finally, the specialist can, if necessary, perform more in-depth tests, such as tympanometry. All these examinations take place in a soundproof booth: they require a more precise helmet to be worn and sometimes even the use of a probe for in-depth checks.

Following the hearing assessment, measurements and results, a hearing instrument specialist will offer you medication-based treatment or surgery if medication is not sufficient. If you need to wear a hearing aid, then make an appointment with a hearing instrument specialist. Your hearing instrument specialist will advise you on which hearing solution you should choose and will tailor it based on your ear canal impression. Many today are convenient and discreet. They can be modern and link to your phone to Bluetooth. It’s incredibly important to look at options. 

What are the Different Degrees of Hearing Loss?

Hearing loss is assessed in both ears, represented by the different colors on the audiogram. Globally, we speak of hearing loss if a majority of points in at least one ear are below 25dB. The extent of hearing loss can be categorized in steps using the audiogram for each frequency band:

• zero to 20dB: Normal hearing
• 21-40dB: Slight loss
• 41-55dB: Average loss
• 56-70dB: Moderately severe loss
• 71-90dB: Severe loss
• More than 91dB: Deep loss

If you have any concerns about your hearing, then you should consider talking to a professional. You can contact the team at Nu-Life Hearing Centre and call us today at (855) 867-7449 to make your appointment.