What to Expect During Your First Visit at a Hearing Clinic?
The signs of your hearing loss were confirmed and you have finally made your appointment for your free hearing test! You are now most likely wondering what to expect during your first visit to a hearing clinic. While this might feel like an overwhelming first step, there is no reason to be anxious about having your hearing tested. Most hearing healthcare professionals will offer some version of a hearing test, hearing screening or hearing evaluation at no cost or obligation to you.
Upon your arrival
Like any typical health care appointment, the first visit to your hearing healthcare professional will require some paperwork to be done. We recommend that you arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment time to complete any personal and medical forms. Often, the hearing healthcare professional will ask you to bring a spouse or loved one to your appointment. You might wonder why they want someone who knows you present at the appointment. This will also be an opportunity to discuss the impact on your life when the hearing test results are revealed. Your companion will likely have paperwork or a questionnaire, too, to fill out in order to help provide a more detailed depiction of your hearing health and the hearing environments you are in daily.
Meeting with the hearing healthcare professional
The hearing healthcare provider may be an Audiologist or a Hearing Aid Dispenser or a Hearing Instrument Specialist. An Audiologist has a doctoral degree in Audiology, and is able to perform hearing tests as well as tests that evaluate your inner ear or vestibular system. A Hearing Aid Dispenser or Hearing Instrument Specialist is a licensed professional who will test your hearing and identify the type of hearing loss you might have. The hearing test consists of listening to short tones that are played at different volumes and pitches. During the test you will wear headphones and the tones will be played into one ear at a time. The hearing healthcare professional should also test your ability to understand, and repeat back, simple spoken words. Some professionals will even be able to test your ability to understand someone speaking in a noisy listening environment, which is called a Speech in Noise test. In general, the hearing test will last for about 20 to 30 minutes.The goal of the hearing test is to detect if you have a hearing loss for:
- low-pitched or high-pitched sounds
- quiet or loud sounds
- either your right or your left ear, or for both ears
- degree of difficulty discriminating spoken words
The results of your hearing test are usually presented in an audiogram. Your hearing loss ranges are as follows:
- Mild Hearing Loss: 25 to 40 decibels
- Moderate Hearing Loss: 40 to 70 decibels
- Severe Hearing Loss: 70 to 90 decibels
- Profound Hearing Loss: 90 to 110 decibels
Discussing hearing aid options and receiving your hearing aid recommendation
Now that you have your hearing test results, you will likely be invited to try on a pair of hearing aids in order to learn more about your hearing loss and how hearing aids are able to help you hear better. The hearing healthcare professional is there to make recommendations for the hearing aids that would be the best to mitigate your hearing loss. You will have choices based on a range of different types of hearing aids. Taking into consideration your level of hearing loss, your budget and your hearing aid style preferences, the hearing healthcare professional will guide you towards the most appropriate set. Depending on the style of hearing aids you choose, the hearing healthcare professional might take impressions of your ears. These impressions will be used to fabricate the earmold piece that will be custom fit to your ears. Then an order will be placed at the hearing aid manufacturer so they can create your custom hearing aids.
The questions you need to ask
During your visit at the clinic, we strongly encourage you to ask questions to the professionals you will talk to. Here are ideas for questions you could ask the hearing healthcare professional:
- How will my hearing health be evaluated during this appointment?
- What happens if I do indeed have hearing loss?
- What kind of hearing loss do I have?
- Does my hearing need to be checked as well by an otolaryngologist?
- What kinds of hearing aids does the clinic offer?
- What days and times is the clinic open for appointments?
An additional question we recommend asking yourself is how you feel, overall, during the appointment. Is the clinic welcoming, professional and do you feel well taken care of there? Asking questions is an important way for you to better understand your hearing health and hearing loss.
Conclusion
Within this article we have described the main steps you can expect during your first visit at a hearing clinic. If your hearing loss is confirmed, you need to take it as an opportunity to start building a relationship with the hearing healthcare professional that likely will last several years. You also need to better understand how wearing a pair of hearing aids will impact your life.
Recommended Reading
- Learn how to detect when you could have potential hearing loss
- Learn why it is important you wear your pair of hearing aids
- Audiologist Vs. Hearing Aid Dispenser – What’s The Difference?
- Bring someone to you hearing test
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