Are you turning up the TV, struggling to follow conversations or asking people to repeat themselves more often? It may be time for a hearing test.
In this episode of Monday Health Minutes host Melanie Shafer talks with Valley Health audiologist Robin Porter about audiograms and what they can tell us about our hearing.
An audiogram is the graph created during a hearing test that shows the softest sounds a person can hear at different frequencies or pitches. A complete hearing evaluation can help determine the degree of hearing loss and whether it may be permanent, temporary or a combination of both.
Robin explains how audiologists use pure-tone testing, bone conduction, speech recognition and speech discrimination testing to better understand a patient’s hearing. She also discusses when hearing aids may be recommended and why regular hearing evaluations are important for monitoring changes over time.
For patients who already wear hearing aids, updated hearing test results can also help audiologists adjust programming as hearing changes.
In this episode:
- What is an audiogram?
- How is a hearing test performed?
- What do frequency, pitch and decibels mean?
- What is bone conduction testing?
- What is the difference between conductive and sensorineural hearing loss?
- What is speech recognition and discrimination testing?
- When might someone need hearing aids?
- How often should adults have their hearing checked?