Hearing tests serve the aim to evaluate a person’s ability to hear different sounds and to determine if any problems exist.
Hearing tests are necessary for two important reasons: Babies and young children must routinely be checked for hearing problems and possible complications. If not, they can have problems speaking, understanding, and learning the language.
In all states in the US, it is mandatory for babies to be checked in hospitals where they are born. For children in pre-teen ages, it is also important to track their hearing abilities for the proper development of their speech and other language-related skills.
Some behavior and learning difficulties can be related to hearing loss problems. Because of that, many schools provide hearing tests for their attending children.
If an adult person suspects hearing loss or possible hearing problems, he or she should definitively make an appointment with a doctor. A hearing or audiometric test is part of an ear examination that evaluates a person’s ability to hear by measuring the ability of sound reaching the brain.
Hearing tests help determine what kind of hearing problem a person has by measuring his or her ability to hear sounds that reach the inner ear through the ear canal (these sounds are also called air-conducted sounds) and sounds transmitted through the skull (bone-conducted sounds).
The Need for Hearing Tests
Hearing Tests are conducted for various reasons but some of the main are:
People who detect problems in one or both ears and people who have difficulties understanding and therefore participating in the conversation.
Older people should also be prepared for tests because sometimes the signs and indications of poor hearing ability are mistaken with decreasing mental capacity.
“For instance, old people may seem off or not interested in the conversation but in reality, they cannot understand and hear properly.”
People who work in places with loud noise or people who take certain antibiotics should also be ready to take some hearing tests because the incidence of their jobs or health condition gives more opportunity for possible hearing difficulties.
If there is a reasonable suspicion of a hearing problem then there is also a more reasonable need to examine yourself. It is important to determine the amount and type of hearing loss.
Hearing loss can be:
How Do Hearing Tests Work?
Hearing tests can be executed in an audiometry laboratory by a hearing specialist, that is, a doctor audiologist or in a clinic, a school, or the workplace by a nurse, health professional, psychologist, speech therapist, or audiometric technician.
There are various forms of tests and some of them include:
- Whispered speech test
- Pure tone audiometry
- Tuning fork test
- Speech reception and word recognition tests
- Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing
- Auditory brain stem response (ABR) testing
1. Whispered speech test – the doctor will tell you to put your finger at the opening of your ear. The doctor than stands behind you in a region from 30 to 60 centimeters and whispers random words. The person being tested must repeat the words. Each ear is tested.
2. Pure tone audiometry – uses a machine also known as an audiometer to play a series of sounds through headphones. The tones vary in pitch, which is a frequency measured in hertz and loudness with its intensity measured in decibels.
The doctor will control the volume of a sound and decrease its loudness until you can no longer hear it. Then the tone will get louder until you can hear it again. You signal by raising your hand or pressing a button every time you hear a tone, even if the tone you hear is very faint.
3. Tuning fork test – is a metal, two-pronged device that produces a sound when it vibrates. The doctor whacks the tuning fork to make it vibrate and produces a sound.
These tests determine how sound moves through a person’s ear.
4. Speech reception and word recognition tests – screens a person’s ability to hear and understand normal conversation. In these tests, a person is asked to repeat a series of random words spoken with different degrees of loudness.
5. Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing – is often used to check newborn babies for hearing difficulties. In this test, a little, soft microphone is put in the baby’s ear canal.
Sound is then introduced through a little flexible probe inserted in the baby’s ear. The microphone detects the inner ear’s response to the sound.
Online Hearing Testing
Nowadays, people can also test their hearing online, that is, on the internet.
“The tests usually last less than 5 minutes. Mostly the test consist of three or four parts.”
First, there are some questions about hearing in general. The questions are answered with yes or no. When you take a hearing test online it is better if you wear headphones than to listen from speakers. The results are more accurate.
The tests usually continue with the pure tone being released and with some recorded voice playing random words. The point is that the volume is always different and there’s also some disturbance in the background and similar.
These tests can be useful if a person suspects a hearing problem and wants to take the first step. The results in these online tests suggest a doctor visit.