Cyber Monday Discount 20%
Cyber Monday Discount 20%
Getting your hearing checked accurately and professionally is the first step towards better hearing.
Longmont Hearing and Tinnitus Center provides hearing care services — whatever they may be — and that can include diagnostic hearing tests. Your first visit with one of our audiologists will start with answering questions about your medical and hearing history. Next, they will look into your ears using a light, called an otoscope, to check for anything in the ear canal that might affect your hearing. Then, you will be set up in our sound booth where several types of tests will be conducted to map your hearing test results. These tests will assess:
While this traditional hearing test evaluates how well your ears are doing their job — collecting, amplifying, organizing, and transmitting the amplified and organized signal to the auditory nerve — there is SO much more to hearing than what happens in the ears! Once that signal hits the nerve, that is when the magic happens. The signal travels from the ear to the brainstem, on to the midbrain, and then to the auditory cortices. These signals criss-cross your brain multiple times while sending information up and down that chain.
What if all of the “criss-crossing” isn’t working as it should? Perhaps there is an unexpected pause, or a part of the brain has somehow become damaged. What if processing speed is slower, and we can’t keep up with what we’re hearing due to a rapid conversation, or lots of background noise? Maybe our memory is impacted, and we can’t associate a sound with anything we have heard before. These variables inspired us to add additional measures to better analyze and understand test results.
Vibrations — caused by dropping a fork or speaking a word, for example — are transformed into mechanical energy by the tympanic membrane in the ear. That mechanical energy is then transmitted through small bones called ossicles to the inner ear, where it is changed again into hydraulic energy for transmission through the fluid-filled cochlea.
The cochlea’s hair cells are stimulated by the fluid waves, and a neurochemical event takes place that excites the hearing nerve. The physical characteristics of the original sound are preserved at every energy change along the way, until this code becomes one the brain can recognize and process.
Hearing loss creates a malfunction in this chain of events by distorting or interrupting the original sound message. This, in turn, prevents the brain from processing the original signals properly. Changes in the brain’s ability to effectively process stimuli — from head trauma, disease, or from aging — can result in symptoms that mimic hearing loss.
The ears and the brain combine in a remarkable way to process neural events into the sense of hearing. Perhaps it’s fair to say that we “hear” with our brain, not with our ears!
The audiologist will conduct tests of listening and speech. These results are recorded on the audiogram. One test that the audiologist conducts during a hearing test is the speech reception threshold (SRT). This is used with older children and adults, and helps to confirm the pure-tone test results. The SRT records the faintest speech that can be heard half the time. Then the audiologist will record word recognition or the ability to correctly repeat back words at a comfortable loudness level.
Speech testing may be done in a quiet or noisy environment.
Difficulty understanding speech in background noise is a common complaint of people with hearing loss, and this information is helpful.
The audiologist may also take measurements that will provide information about how the middle ear is functioning. These measurements include tympanometry, acoustic reflex measures, and acoustic decay measures.
Tympanometry assists in the detection of fluid in the middle ear, perforation of the eardrum, or wax blocking the ear canal. Tympanometry pushes air pressure into the ear canal, making the eardrum move back and forth. The test measures the mobility of the eardrum. Graphs are created, called tympanograms. These can reveal a stiff eardrum, a hole in the eardrum, or an eardrum that moves too much.
Acoustic reflex measures add information about the possible location of the hearing problem. Everyone has an acoustic reflex to sounds. A tiny muscle in the middle ear contracts when a loud sound occurs. The loudness level at which the acoustic reflex occurs — or the absence of the acoustic reflex — gives information to the audiologist about the type of hearing loss.
Thrive is a quick, 6-minute computer-based cognitive screening that involves watching a screen and moving a joystick. It’s a simple test to take that doesn’t depend on hearing. Test results provide insight into what happens beyond the ear AND beyond the auditory system, providing you and our audiologists with very meaningful information about your hearing.
Getting your hearing checked accurately and professionally is the first step towards better hearing. Longmont Hearing & Tinnitus Center offers a wide range of hearing tests using the most updated equipment and technology to ensure that you get only the best hearing solutions in town.
