Hearing Assessments

A complete hearing assessment will typically be performed as part of your initial consultation with Finchley Hearing.  The appointment will begin with a discussion of your concerns with your ears, hearing, and communication.  As communication always involves more than one person, we welcome and encourage you to bring someone else along with you to your consultation, such as a spouse, family member or friend.  They may be able to provide a fuller picture of the kinds of challenges that you experience.

 

The components of the assessment itself can vary depending on your needs, but will often include the following:

 

Otoscopy:

An examination of the outer ear, to ensure that your ear canals are clear and healthy.  If your ears are blocked with wax, we can typically remove this for you via microsuction, which involves using a very small suctioning device to take out any problematic earwax.  Please note that to perform earwax removal, a separate appointment is often necessary, and additional fees will apply.

 

Tympanometry:

This is a test in which the pressure inside the ears is varied, and the eardrums' response to that pressure change is measured.  This helps assess the health of the eardrums and middle ear space. 

 

Acoustic Reflex Threshold:

This is an additional test that further helps assess the health and integrity of the middle ear, and associated nerves.  It measures the contraction of the very small stapedius muscle, as a reflex response to loud sounds.  

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Pure Tone Audiometry:

This is the test that most people think of as a "hearing test".  A pair of headphones is worn, and a series of beeps is played at different pitches.  You will be asked to press a button every time a beep is heard, even if it is very faint.  The measurements will also be taken using a headband that sits behind the ear, rather than on or inside the ear itself.  This assesses hearing via the inner ear directly, through "bone-conducted" sound. Once these tests are complete, a diagnosis can usually be made on the severity of your hearing loss, along with which parts of the ear are contributing to this loss.

 

Speech Audiometry:

The part of a hearing loss that usually concerns people the most is the ability to hear and understand speech.  Speech understanding relies on many different factors, including severity of hearing loss, auditory nerve function, and overall memory and cognitive abilities. To assess the level of difficulty you may have with understanding speech, we will ask you to repeat back words that are spoken to you, and then to also repeat back whole sentences in the presence of background noise. 

 

The above tests can provide us with an excellent picture of how well and how clearly you might hear in different situations, such as group conversations, watching television, or talking on the telephone.  We will review and explain your results in detail with you, and discuss our recommendations.