Getting your ears checked should be something that you do periodically. That's because you want to make sure that you keep your hearing in prime shape as long as possible. If you are going to have your hearing checked, you may want to know what the hearing test will involve.
Physical Examination
The first thing anyone is going to do is physically look at your ears. They will grab an otoscope and look into your ear canals and at your ear drums. If you have a lot of wax in your ears, they will also clear out the wax. That will let them get a good, clear look at everything.
If you have a hard time hearing, it can be because of excessive wax buildup that is packed down into your ears, which can muffle the sounds. If they clear the wax out of your ears and you can hear better, then that could have been the problem.
The audiologist will also check to see if your ear drum looks nice and healthy or if it is bulging. A bulging ear drum can indicate that there is pressure or fluid build up behind your ear drum, which can also cause problems. Usually, a decongestant can take care of that problem.
Audio Tests
There are a number of audio tests that the audiologist can run for you. One is a tone test. This test is generally conducted with you in a special room. This room will have a solid door that is heavy and seals tightly. The room will also be padded and insulated in such a way that no echoes can happen.
Echoes need open walls so that they can bounce off the walls. The walls in these special rooms are generally covered in an absorbent foam with ridges on it. The foam absorbs all the sounds, and the ridges and bumps make sure that no echoes can possibly happen. When you are in the room, it may sound really odd to you, but that's because you are used to hearing the minor echoes and such that bounce off the walls.
While you are in this room, the audiologist will have you wear a set of headphones. They will be outside the room controlling the sounds you hear. When you hear a tone, you signal the audiologist which ear you hear it in. That will let them measure your hearing and if you need something like a hearing aid to help your hearing be back to normal.
If you get your hearing tested periodically, you will have a baseline measurement for your hearing. That will also let you know when you are experiencing hearing loss. For more information about hearing tests and hearing aids, contact a medical office near you, such as Jacobs Clinical Diagnostics.
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