When you get your hearing checked at an audiologist’s office, you might receive more than one type of hearing test. There are different types of hearing tests that screen for diverse mechanisms that allow – or interfere with – hearing. Here are some of the tests, what they measure and what you can expect:
Standard hearing screening
A standard hearing test – also called “pure-tone testing” – is used to determine the faintest tones a person can hear at both low and high pitches. During a standard hearing test, you will wear earplugs or headphones and you’ll be asked to indicate – usually by raising a hand, lifting a finger, or pressing a button indicating which ear heard the sound – each time you hear a tone during the screening. The sounds are played at different pitches and levels. The results of this pure-tone test will be recorded on an audiogram – one of the main instruments an audiologist uses to determine levels of hearing loss.
Speech testing
Another aspect of this standard exam is speech discrimination or word recognition testing, which can help an audiologist assess how well a hearing aid can help a specific person by determining the speech reception threshold. The SRT confirms the pure-tone test results and also involves word recognition and repeating words at a comfortable loudness level. The score of the speech test is also recorded on the audiogram.
Auditory brainstem response test
This test measures how long it takes sound to get from your ear to the processing areas in your brain. This can reveal if the pathways between the brain and the ear are working correctly. An ABR test uses small earplugs in both ears and electrodes on the head. Sounds of different levels and pitches are played and the brain’s response is measured. A computer averages the information for the audiologist to interpret. When you have this type of test, you can choose to sleep or just rest quietly.
Otoacoustic emissions tests
Otoacoustic emissions are sounds that the inner ear produces when the cochlea is stimulated. The outer hair cells vibrate and an inaudible sound echoes into the middle ear, but it can be measured using a probe in the ear canal. While the OAE is part of many newborn hearing tests, it can also be used on adults. The best part about OAE tests is that they are objective because they aren’t dependent on a person’s response but recordable data. While people with normal hearing have these sounds in their middle ear, people with hearing loss of 25 decibels or greater will not produce these sounds. In older adults, this test can show whether there is blockage in the outer ear canal, cochlear damage or fluid in the middle ear.
While there are questionnaires online to help you assess if you have hearing loss, they can’t tell you to what degree of loss you have. Additionally, although some companies offer hearing loss tests through the phone, this is not an accurate assessment and should not be relied upon. If you think you have hearing loss, check with your primary care physician who can recommend an audiologist to you.
