Is Your Hearing Impaired?

Ask yourself!

Do you -

• hear but not quite understand what is being said?

• have problems understanding conversation while riding in a car?

• have problems understanding when several people are having a conversation?

• have problems understanding women’s or children’s voices?

• have problems understanding in meetings?

• have problems understanding on the phone?

• tend to avoid crowds because it is difficult to understand people then?

Do others -

• tell you that your radio, TV or stereo is too loud – and it is the right volume for you?

If you have answered yes to one or more of these questions, you should get a full hearing evaluation.

What Can Hearing Tests Tell You?

A hearing test – which involves a series of tones through earphones to check the volume at which you can hear them – can tell you if you have a hearing loss or not.

If you do show a hearing loss, an audiologist or other specialist can give you a series of other painless tests, which might include –

• A test that sends sound vibrations directly to your inner ear to see how your hearing this way compares with your hearing in the first test – this will tell whether your loss can be treated through medicine or if hearing aids will do the job for you
  

• A ‘speech reception threshold’ test to show at what decibel you start to understand speech

• A test to discover how loud a sound is when it is uncomfortable for you
  

• A ‘most comfortable’ test to find the most comfortable volume for you to hear what is being said and the clearest level – this will give an idea of how well you would do with hearing aids.

Other tests can be used if your audiologist or other specialist thinks they might help.