There are many things that can cause hearing impairment. Symptoms may vary from one person to another, however having difficulty hearing and participating in everyday speech is one of the most clear sings that you might have problems with your hearing. This can happen due to damage to any part of the ear, although old age, taking certain medications as well as listening to very loud music can also affect your hearing ability. Depending on which part of the ear is affected there are two basic kinds of hearing loss: conductive and sensori-neural. In the case of conductive hearing loss different sounds are unable to reach the inner ear due to some kind of infection, blockage in the ear canal or damage of the eardrum. As for sensori-neural hearing loss the inner ear is unable to detect sounds which means the hearing nerve has suffered some kind of damage.
Hearing tests are the best solution when it comes to identifying the type of hearing loss as well as detecting any possible sings that could actually affect you hearing ability. They include various techniques that can help evaluate you hearing health and make a careful analysis of your ability to hear many different sounds. Hearing tests Melbourne experts recommend doing this kind of screenings at least once a year, this is especially important for children. These tests are performed by a qualified audiologist and the whole process consists of few important stages. First the audiologist will examine your ears and check if there is any kind of outer damage that can cause hearing problems. Nowadays hearing tests Melbourne centres make use of many different methods and tools to efficiently identify the reasons behind different kinds of hearing problems.
- Auditory Brainstem Response– during this test the audiologist will use special electrodes to check how the nerves react to sounds at different volumes. These electrodes are placed on the head and are designed to show how the sounds reach the hearing nerves.
- Play Audiometry– it is usually done to evaluate the hearing ability of children. During this test a specifically designed electrical machine is used to produce sounds at different frequencies and volumes and this helps determine which sounds are able to reach the inner ear.
- Whispered speech test– this is a very simple procedure where both ears are tested separately. The audiologist will whisper different words and depending on how many words you are able to repeat he could determine whether there are any hearing problems or not.
- Tympanometry– this test can show if there is any damage of the middle ear or ear drum. The audiologist uses a special plastic tool, that is properly adjusted close to the ear canal to test whether there are pressure changes in the middle ear that could prevent it from functioning properly.