Hearing changes can happen gradually, making them difficult to notice in everyday life. A diagnostic hearing evaluation provides a comprehensive assessment of your hearing and helps identify whether hearing difficulties may be affecting your communication and daily activities.
What Is a Diagnostic Hearing Evaluation?
A diagnostic hearing evaluation is a comprehensive assessment of your ability to hear different sounds and frequencies. Your hearing professional will review your hearing concerns, perform appropriate hearing tests, and explain the results with you.
The evaluation can help provide a clearer understanding of your current hearing health and whether additional hearing care may be appropriate.
Who Should Consider a Hearing Evaluation?
A hearing evaluation may be helpful if you:
- Have difficulty following conversations
- Frequently ask others to repeat themselves
- Find it difficult to hear in restaurants or other noisy environments
- Notice ringing or other sounds in your ears
- Turn up the volume on your TV or devices
- Feel that your hearing has changed over time
- Have concerns about a family member's hearing
What to Expect During Your Hearing Evaluation
1. Discuss your hearing concerns
Your appointment begins with a conversation about your hearing, lifestyle, and any difficulties you've been experiencing.
2. Complete your hearing assessment
Your hearing professional will perform appropriate tests to evaluate how well you hear different sounds and frequencies.
3. Review your evaluation results
Your results will be explained to you so you can better understand your hearing.
4. Discuss your options
If hearing difficulties are identified, your hearing professional can discuss appropriate next steps and hearing solutions based on your needs.
Why Have Your Hearing Evaluated?
Regular hearing evaluations can help you stay informed about changes in your hearing. Identifying hearing difficulties can also help you make informed decisions about your hearing care and communication needs.
Hearing Evaluation Services
Our hearing clinic provides personalized hearing evaluations for adults in Regina and surrounding communities. Whether you're noticing changes in your hearing or simply want to better understand your current hearing health, our team can help you take the next step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Diagnostic Hearing Evaluations
You can expect your hearing evaluation to take approximately one hour, and will include -consultation/history, visual/video otoscopy, acoustic immittance, pure tone threshold testing, bone-conduction testing, speech reception testing (SRT,) word recognition testing, speech in noise testing, and uncomfortable loudness level (UCL). Other tests may be added to the standard test battery, depending on the results. All test results will be discussed following the assessment and will include recommendations for your hearing health. Most of the testing will occur inside of the soundproof booth. You are always encouraged to bring a family or friend to your appointment.
The hearing test will start with a consultation and history to expand on your hearing health, your daily listening challenges, and how your hearing affects you and your family.
Video/visual otoscopy- examination of the ear canals and eardrum (tympanic membrane) to ensure healthy tissue and canals are clear to the eardrum.
Acoustic immittance- measures the mobility and compression of the eardrum ensuring normal middle ear function.
Air-conduction pure tone testing is a subjective test performed with insert earplugs designed to measure the softest sound one can hear at various pitch and intensity. This identifies the hearing threshold of an individual and allows for determination of the degree, type and configuration of the hearing loss.
Bone-conduction pure tone testing is a subjective test with a small vibrator placed behind the ear to test how sound travels through bone to the nerve or inner ear, bypassing the outer and middle ear.
Speech reception testing (SRT) is the softest decibel (dB) level where a person can correctly repeat 50% of two-syllable words (spondee words) under insert headphones. SRT testing provides verification that pure-tone testing is accurate and reliable. The SRT and pure-tone average (PTA) should be within 10 dB.
Word recognition testing-this measures how clearly you can understand spoken words when played at a comfortable hearing level. This test is performed under insert headphones with no visual cues.
Speech-in-noise testing (SIN)-this test performed under insert headphones, evaluates your ability to understand speech and sentences when competing background noise is present These mimics challenging environments like restaurants and family gatherings rather than 1:1 conversation.
Consultation/discussion- We will go over all your test results, discussing how any identified hearing loss may affect your day-to-day activities, the challenges you face, and if there any recommendations we can make. We never use the F-word, and there will never be any pressure to follow our recommended treatment options.
If hearing loss is identified, hearing should be re-assessed every 2 years to monitor hearing thresholds, sooner if a change is noted. If you are 18-40, a hearing assessment is recommended every 3-5 years. It is recommended that you have at least one hearing test during early adulthood to establish a baseline. If you work in excess occupational noise, testing should be more frequent. If you are 60 years or older, age-related hearing changes are more common, so a hearing assessment every 1-2 years is recommended.
No, you do not need a referral for a hearing evaluation. We will always send a complete report to your physician.