In case of hearing loss, it is rare for both ears to be affected equally. For this reason, as a rule, audiologists test each ear separately to determine the cause and extent of any hearing loss. Here’s how it’s done.
Pure-Tone Audiometry With Headphones
Using Pure-Tone Audiometry with Earphones. Using headphones or small insert type earphones a sound is presented into one ear at a time. The client presses a button each time they hear a sound. A graph is then produced that outlines the quietest level that the client can hear at specific frequencies for each ear separately.
Bone Conduction Testing
A bone conduction transmission type device is placed on the mastoid bone (behind the ear) and sound transmitted in this way is fed directly into the inner ear. This allows the audiologist to localise the source of any hearing loss whether it be in the outer or middle ear or deeper in the inner ear.
Masking
If one ear is significantly better than the other, the stronger ear can sometimes hear for the weaker ear. To make sure that this doesn’t happen during the test, the audiologist will play a constant noise into the better hearing ear for the test of the poorer hearing ear.
Speech Testing per Ear
As a result of these tests, your audiologist will be able to establish the degree to which you are able to hear words and sentences in everyday conversation, as opposed to just detecting individual tones. This is likely to highlight many cases to highlight the degree of hearing loss that you actually experience in everyday life.
The Audiogram
The results are plotted on a graph for each ear individually in order to establish a separate audiogram for each ear. The majority of hearing tests are carried out using pure-tone audiometry and as such are conducted on a bilateral test. If you are looking for a hearing test in Bristol then this is how results are usually conducted on an individual basis for each ear.
If you want a Hearing Test Bristol, www.imperialhearing.com/audiologist-near-me/bristol/ is a good place to start.
By testing each ear separately, we get a far clearer picture of hearing loss than we would from a single test result for both ears combined.
