A Comprehensive, Real‑World Approach to Understanding Your Hearing
If you think you’re experiencing hearing loss, you might be wondering where to begin in terms of treatment. Though it can feel overwhelming, our audiologists can connect you with resources to help you regain some of what you’ve lost. It all starts with a hearing test.
Our 5‑Step Hearing Evaluation
1. Initial Consultation
We begin with a detailed consultation with you and your primary communication partner. We want to better understand the situations in which you are working hard to hear and having to put in more effort to participate in conversations. Overall health history, exposure to loud sounds, medications and family history are also important factors.
2. Complete Audiometric Evaluation
This includes:
- Air & bone conduction thresholds
- Word recognition ability
- Otoacoustic emissions (OAE)
- Tympanometry & acoustic reflexes
- Testing in background noise
3. Real‑World Listening in a Sound Booth
We simulate real‑life communication challenges to understand how your brain processes speech.
Although some audiologists include speech testing as part of their screening, their evaluations are almost never conducted in noisy conditions that mimic real-world settings.
4. Hearing Aid Selection & Treatment Planning
If treatment is recommended, your audiologist guides you through options based on your results.
Our hearing aid recommendations are based on extensive testing to ensure you benefit from unrivaled sound clarity and processing. We call this testing in noise with different hearing aids our hearing aid performance assessment.
5. Try Before You Buy
We then invite you to “test drive” your hearing aids in the real world. By frequenting those environments and situations that give you the most difficulty, you’ll be able to assess how your hearing aids truly perform. There are no time limits on your test drive period.
“My experience with The Hearing Solution has been nothing but Excellence with added Professional Service. You are welcomed by a friendly smile from the staff and treated with respect. This is the best SOLUTION to any hearing issue you may have in the Sacramento area.”
– Thomas
Why Seek Treatment for Hearing Loss?
Meeting with an audiologist and determining the best course of action has many benefits.
Improved Physical and Mental Health
Treating hearing loss can have a variety of other positive side effects on your health.
- Hearing aids decrease listening fatigue.
- Research indicates a 2- to 3-fold increased risk of falls in older adults with even mild, untreated hearing loss.
- Hearing aid use can improve working memory performance in adults, compared to not using hearing aids.
- Adults with untreated hearing loss are more likely to report emotional loneliness/a lack of perceived emotional support.
- Wearing hearing aids improves social engagement/activity amongst adults with hearing loss.
Better Relationships with Family and Friends
If you find yourself in arguments about the television volume or who said what, treating hearing loss with hearing aids will likely resolve these tensions. With help from an audiologist, you’ll be able to better understand what the people in your life are saying.
Increased Connection to the World Around You
Imagine hearing birds chirping outside, the pop of a bottle being opened in the kitchen or laughter from your children. Seeking treatment from an audiologist can help sounds big and small be part of your daily life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How is hearing loss tested?
The core of the test is the pure-tone audiometry, where you’ll wear headphones and respond to various tones at different pitches and volumes – think of it as playing a highly specialized version of a listening game.
In addition, you might undergo speech recognition tests, which assess how well you hear and understand speech at different volumes, and tympanometry, which evaluates the health of your middle ear. It’s a fascinating journey where every beep and spoken word brings you closer to unlocking the full potential of your hearing.
Q: How much is a hearing test?
Many hearing care professionals offer hearing evaluations at no cost, especially within hearing centers or clinics. However, if you’re seeking a comprehensive evaluation by an audiologist, prices may vary depending on the provider and location. Generally, these can range from being free of charge to up to a couple of hundred dollars.
Q: How long does a hearing test take?
Most hearing evaluations are thorough yet efficient, taking approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
Q: How often should I see my audiologist?
It is recommended that you are seen every six months by your audiologist. We provide an annual audiometric evaluation and biannual cleaning and checking of the hearing aid, using electroacoustic equipment and real ear probe microphone measurements.