Getting to Know Hearing Tests

Here's what WON'T happen during a hearing test.

image: Bundesinnung Hörakustiker

No one will use a needle, and there will be no request to take off your clothes. Here's what WILL happen:

An audiologist will check to make sure you don’t have a build-up of wax in your ears before taking you into an acoustic testing chamber that cuts out outside noise. You’ll put on headphones that cover your ears and listen to tones. You’ll indicate when you first hear the tone. She’ll start at a low tone and gradually increase the volume. The same process will be used through ten different tones. A second test involves placing a wand behind your ear. This test measures how well you can hear sounds through your skull rather than your ears. The results are shown on an audiogram. It looks like a graph. If you have some hearing loss — whether mild or significant, your audiologist may include speech recognition tests. Using the headphones again, you repeat a word or sentence that you hear. The results should give the audiologist enough information to decide to recommend a hearing aid.