What Happens in a Hearing Test?

1

Before any testing begins, your audiologist will sit down with you, and any optional significant others for a relaxed conversation. They’ll ask how long you’ve noticed any hearing changes, which situations are most difficult such as noisy restaurants, phone calls, or TV, plus your work history, noise exposure, medications and family history of hearing loss.

This isn’t a quiz and there are no wrong answers. The goal is to build a complete picture of your lifestyle and hearing needs so the testing and any recommendations are tailored specifically to you.

Tip: If you have a family member or close friend who can come along, you are most welcome to bring them. They often notice our hearing difficulties first before we are aware of them.

2

A look inside your ears ~3 minutes

Using a small torch-like instrument called an otoscope, your audiologist will examine the ear canal and eardrum. They’re checking for earwax build-up, redness, perforation, or anything else that could affect the test results or indicate a medical issue.

It’s quick and painless about as involved as a GP looking in your ear during a routine check-up.

3

Tympanometry — checking the middle ear ~5 minutes

A small soft tip is placed gently at the ear canal entrance. The device creates a tiny, brief change in air pressure and measures how your eardrum moves in response. You don’t need to do anything, just sit still.

This test checks whether your middle ear is working properly. It can detect fluid behind the eardrum, a blockage in the Eustachian tube, or a tiny hole (perforation) in the eardrum. All these symptoms can cause or worsen hearing loss.

4

Pure tone audiometry — the main hearing test ~20 minutes

This is the test most people picture when they think of a hearing check. You’ll sit in a quiet room and put on a pair of headphones. The audiologist plays a series of soft beeps and tones at different pitches (frequencies) and volumes, one ear at a time. Each time you hear a sound, you press a button even if it seems very faint.

The audiologist is finding the softest level at which you can just detect each pitch. These results are plotted on a graph called an audiogram, which maps out exactly what you can and can’t hear across the full range of human speech and sound.

Tip: Don’t second-guess yourself. If you think you heard something, press the button. The test is designed to account for uncertainty. There’s no failing.

5

Bone conduction testing ~10 minutes

Similar to the previous test, but instead of headphones a small headband that vibrates is placed behind the ear, against the bone. This bypasses the outer and middle ear entirely and sends sound directly to the inner ear (cochlea).

By comparing what you hear through headphones versus bone conduction, your audiologist can pinpoint exactly where the hearing loss originates, that is whether it’s in the outer or middle ear (often treatable medically) or in the inner ear (more commonly managed with hearing aids).

6

Speech audiometry — understanding words, not just tones ~10 minutes

Hearing tones is one thing but understanding speech in real life is another. In this part of the test, you’ll listen to a series of words through headphones and repeat them back. The words are presented at different volumes, including conversational level and with some amplification.

This tells your audiologist how well your brain is processing speech, and whether a hearing aid would meaningfully improve your ability to follow conversation. It also provides consistency checks with your audiogram results.

7

Results and discussion ~15 minutes

Once testing is complete, your audiologist will walk you through your audiogram and explain what the results mean in plain language with no jargon. They’ll show you where your hearing sits compared to the normal range, what pitches or volumes are affected and how this connects to the difficulties you described at the start of the appointment.

You’ll may request a printed copy of your results to take home. Depending on what was found, your audiologist will discuss the next steps, whether that’s monitoring, a referral to an ENT specialist, or an explanation of hearing aid options.

Ask anything. This is your time to understand your own hearing. Good audiologists expect questions and will take as long as needed.