What You Need to Know About The First Steps to Better Hearing
Are there situations you wished you heard more clearly? If so, it’s time to get your hearing checked. Are people in your household noticing the TV is creeping up in volume? Or that you are asking for repeats? Is this creating unnecessary frustration? It’s time to get your hearing checked. Have you noticed any sudden or recent changes in your hearing, perhaps some ringing in your ears? It’s time to get your hearing checked. Do you work in or around loud, noisy environments? It’s time to get your hearing checked.
1 in 6 Australians experience hearing loss and on average, it can take a person 7-10years before they have their hearing checked by an audiologist. An undiagnosed and unmanaged hearing loss can have far reaching effects on your quality of life, general health and wellbeing.
Changes to your hearing can be subtle, but the number one indicator for needing a hearing check is listening effort. Do you need to put in a lot of effort to listen? This can look different for every individual. You may find that you ask people to repeat themselves more often. You may notice that you have trouble being involved in normal conversations with your family or friends. You may find noisy environments to be challenging and tiring. This is because it is now taking more listening effort for you to hear and comprehend the world around you. If you ever feel as though you need to strain or concentrate to hear, it is important that you have a hearing check to test your hearing acuity.
Having regular hearing checks is an essential step in maintaining your overall health and wellbeing. Whether you notice a hearing loss or not, it is important to have your hearing checked every year to ensure your hearing is stable and you have not developed a hearing loss. Changes to our hearing can be subtle, gradual, and they can often go unnoticed as it is difficult to compare your hearing now, to what it was years ago if there has been no previous hearing test to benchmark your hearing. If you suspect that you may be experiencing a loss in your hearing, an audiologist can perform a diagnostic hearing test. This typically involves the audiologist looking into your ears to assess the ear canal and ear drum. The audiologist may also perform a test known as tympanometry which will assess your middle ear system and how well the ear drum is moving. A hearing check often focuses on testing to see if you can hear four main pitches at different levels.
This hearing check can be important in understanding if you require a more comprehensive diagnostic hearing assessment. Comprehensive hearing assessments involve a more thorough understanding of your hearing health and history. The audiologist will investigate any important prior hearing history to assist with making a diagnosis regarding the cause of your hearing concerns. The audiologist will also test your hearing acuity at many pitches between 125 Hz and 8000 Hz. This is performed with headphones over your ears as well as a bone conductor that sits behind your ear to test your inner ear hearing. Comprehensive assessments will involve a diagnostic report for you and your specialist and may also include recommendations on other specialists may need to visit.
With ten clinics situated across Melbourne, Victorian Hearing has a clinic near you with a team of professional, dedicated, university-trained audiologists ready to support you through a hearing check appointment. To arrange an appointment online click here or call (03) 9558 8842.