Why It’s So Important To Get Your Hearing Tested As A Senior

by Calyn Ehid
Getting your hearing tested as a senior is one of the most important things you can do. As the body ages, we lose the ability to hear as clearly due to natural processes. This article details everything you need to know about hearing tests for seniors. In addition to proactive prevention of sound problems, these exams can also help you determine the best listening device and improve your overall quality of life. You may be a victim of hearing loss if you are unable to hear speech in quiet settings, if music seems to be quieter than normal, or if sounds in general seem quieter than you are accustomed to.Hearing loss can be determined with the use of a hearing test, which looks at the extent of a person’s loss and whether or not both ears are affected. These tests are performed by specialists called audiologists and can measure different things, like the presence of blockages inside the ear canal that prevent sound transmission, for example. Most people get tested for ear problems only after experiencing a decrease in sound volume; however, it’s a good idea to get examined on a regular basis to prevent issues from degrading the use of your ears over time.

What Are Hearing Tests?

A hearing test measures the sensitivity of a person’s sense of hearing to see the types of sounds they are able to hear and whether or not they have any loss. A person who conducts an examination is known as an audiologist. Audiologists know the structure of the ear well and are able to determine the type of test necessary for each patient using a tool called an audiometer, which emits very soft sounds at various frequencies. These exams are utilize to interpret things about an individual’s sense of sound through a variety of measures.There are many types of hearing tests. Pure tone audiometry tests are the most common, where a patient is asked to listen to different frequencies using an audiometer. The patient is then assessed based on the softest sounds that can be heard. Speech recognition tests determine how well patients understand speech in a given language. Patients are asked to repeat certain words to determine if there is an issue impacting the ability to recognize speech. Other exams include acoustic reflex, which allows an audiologist to determine the location of an injury inside the ear by measuring how muscles move in response to sound, and auditory brain response, which uses electronic signals to record brain activity in the presence of sound.Next