Hearing Tests   We perform thorough hearing tests for newborns to patients over 100 years of age. Tests include:   • Case History We gather information about past and present issues that could affect your hearing. For instance, excessive noise exposure at home, work or play can affect your hearing. For children, we may include prenatal information, postnatal information and developmental milestones. We look at previous history of ear infections, surgeries and other medical conditions such as, history of chemotherapy, asthma, diabetes, high cholesterol, renal problems, and medication list. We also ask questions about hearing aid use or experiences.   • Otoscopic Evaluation We use a camera and television to look in your ears to make sure you do not have excessive wax and to make sure you have no abnormalities of the ear canal or tympanic membrane.   • Tympanometry We use this test to detect disorders of the middle ear. Air pressure in the ear canal is varied to test the condition and mobility of the ear drum (tympanic membrane) and ossicles (bones in the middle ear). Tympanometry is used to test for the following conditions: Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, Perforated Eardrum, Fluid in Middle Ear, Impacted (ear wax); scarring of the ear drum, tumor in the middle ear, and disconnected bones in the middle ear.   • Acoustic Reflexes and Acoustic Reflex Decay Your ear has one tiny muscle (stapadial muscle) that contracts to loud sounds. This test allows us to assess parts of the central nervous system and rule out a midline brainstem lesion. Decay may suggest a retrocochlear lesion. This part of the test may be done on anyone who complains of tinnitus, dizziness and balance issues, or complaints suggest a central processing disorder.   • Distortion Product or Transient Product Otoacoustic Emissions This test measures outer hair cell function. Outer hair cells detect loudness of sounds. They show damage before the damage shows up on conventional testing. This test is a must for newborns, small children, patients of questionable reliability, patients who have suffered from excessive noise exposure, who have questionable central auditory processing issues, sudden hearing losses or complains of tinnitus.   • Air and Bone Conduction Thresholds We use air conduction testing to evaluate how well you hear the softest sounds when the sounds travel from your ear canal, through your eardrum, middle ear, and then the cochlea (inner ear nerve). We use separate earphones for better reliability. Bone conduction testing is done with an oscillator placed on the mastoid bone behind your ears. This allows us to test the nerve directly.   • Speech Reception Thresholds and Word Recognition Speech Reception Thresholds testing allows us to determine the softest speech sounds that you can recognize. This test is done as a cross check to make sure the air conduction and bone conduction tests were valid. Word Recognition Testing is used to see how well you understand speech. When your speech understanding is consistent with your hearing test, then we know it is a sensory problem only. When your speech understanding is severely impaired and not appropriate for your hearing loss we know you have neural problems. That means you can hear the sounds, but the sounds don't get to the part of your brain that makes sense out of them.   • High Frequency Pure Tone We offer high frequency pure tone tests for patients who are undergoing toxic medical treatment or who are concerned about excessive noise exposure effects or tinnitus.   • Tinnitus Test This test is used to estimate the pirch of the tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and how loud it is compared to your hearing. We tehn determine the minimal masking level (MML) and inhibition. The MML is how loud we have to play a masking noise in order for you not to hear your tinnitus. Once we determine this level, we ascertain how successful masking will be to reduce the disturbance of tinnitus (inhibition).   • Speech In Noise (SPIN) Testing This test helps us determine if your ability to hear in noise is within normal limits. (You will hear sentences in the presence of background noise). If you have a problem, the test lets us know the severity of it, and points to the need for directional microphone technology, assistive listening devices and aural rehabilitation.   ...life never sounded so good!™