Hearing exams, an important part of your overall health, typically involve learning about your medical history, understanding your specific hearing challenges and goals, physically examining your ears with an otoscope, and determining the specific nature of your hearing difficulty using one or more of the following tests:
- Audiometric pure-tone evaluation to measure your hearing acuity at different frequencies
- An evaluation to measure how well you hear and understand ordinary conversation at different volumes
- Evaluation of your middle-ear system, when appropriate
For children and other patients who may not be able to participate in traditional hearing tests, however, an auditory brainstem response (ABR) evaluation can help. It’s a painless, noninvasive test that not only evaluates a patient’s hearing level but can also gauge how well the hearing nerves and brain respond to sound.
How does ABR testing work?
Several electrodes are placed on your head and attached to a computer at the other end to record your brain wave activity, which the audiologist then reviews in a printed report. The testing generally takes less than two hours, and you can even nap during the exam!
Your audiologist will discuss exam results with you and can create a treatment plan based on your individual hearing loss and communication goals. Having your hearing tested can be the first step toward better health and an improved quality of life, so don’t wait. Ask us about a hearing screening today.