Diagnosing Hearing Loss
Your doctor will examine you physically and ask questions about your problems. They will search for indications of infection or other problems that might result in hearing loss. If you damage your ear or they suspect you could have a tumor, they might perform a CT scan or an MRI. You can seek out an audiologist on your own or through your healthcare provider, who will do particular hearing exams.
Standard hearing exams include:
- Pure-tone testing: This common hearing test determines what pitch you can hear at the quietest volume. To hear the noises and speech, you’ll put on headphones or earplugs. Additionally, a device for bone conduction testing will be placed on your skull. Your audiologist can identify the type of hearing loss you have by combining bone conduction testing with testing with headphones or earplugs.
- Otoacoustic emissions test (OAE): Audiologists perform this examination to examine the operation of your inner ear.
- Tympanometry: This examination measures the flexibility of your eardrum. Tympanometry tests may be performed by audiologists to determine whether you have wax in your ear canal, fluid in your middle ear, or a burst eardrum.