Important information about your state of health is provided by a hearing test. Hearing tests can sometimes detect other health issues because the ears are so sensitive. What will you discover from a hearing exam?
A Hearing Exam, What is it?
There are a variety of kinds of hearing tests, but the common assessment involves putting on headphones and listening to a series of tones. In order to detect the depth of your hearing loss, the hearing specialist will play the tones at various volumes and pitches.
Another typical hearing test consists of listening to words in one ear and repeating them back to make certain you are able to interpret sounds accurately. To see what type of sounds affect your hearing, background noise is often added to this test. Tests are usually done in each ear separately to get a proper measurement for each side.
What is The Significance of Hearing Test Results?
Whether someone has hearing loss, and the extent of it, is what the normal hearing test identifies. Normal hearing in adults with minor loss of hearing is 25 decibels or less. Using this test specialist can identify if the hearing loss is:
- Severe
- Moderate to severe
- Mild
- Moderate
- Profound
The degree of impairment is based on the decibel level of the hearing loss.
What Else do Hearing Tests Evaluate?
Other hearing tests can measure the thresholds of air and bone conduction, viability of the structures in the middle ear like the eardrum, kind of hearing loss, and a person’s ability to hear distinctly when there is background noise.
But hearing exams can also reveal other health problems like:
- Heart and circulation problems. The inner ear has one blood vessel, which makes it more sensitive to changes in blood pressure and cholesterol.
- Diabetes. Damaged blood vessels, including the ones in the inner ear, can theoretically be damaged by too much sugar in the blood.
- Meniere’s disease and other problems with dizziness and vertigo.
- Rheumatoid arthritis. Hearing loss is 300% percent more likely in people with RA..
- Paget’s disease, which can cause extreme headaches and pain in the joints and bones.
- Otosclerosis, which if caught early can possibly be reversed.
The hearing specialist will take all the insight uncovered by hearing tests and use it to figure out if you have:
- Tumors
- Injury from trauma
- Another medical issue like high blood pressure causing hearing loss
- Damage from chronic disease or infections
- Age related hearing loss
- Injury from exposure to loud noises, ototoxic chemicals or medications
- Abnormal bone growths
You can try to find ways to protect your health and manage your loss of hearing once you discover why you have it.
The hearing specialist will also examine the results of the examination to determine risk factors caused by your loss of hearing and create a preemptive strategy to lower those risks.
What Are The Risk Factors of Neglecting Hearing Loss?
Medical science is beginning to understand how quality of life and health are impacted by hearing loss. Researchers from Johns Hopkins examined 636 individuals over 12 years. They found that people with loss of hearing have a greater risk of dementia. The risk gets higher with more substantial hearing loss.
Double the risk of dementia comes with moderate hearing loss, according to this study. A moderate loss means three times the risk, and severe hearing impairment raises the risk by five.
Also, social decline is evident in those with hearing loss. People will stay away from conversations if they have trouble following them. Less time with friends and family and more alone time can be the outcome.
A hearing test might explain a recent bout of fatigue, too. In order to comprehend what you hear, the brain needs to do work. When there is hearing loss, it will have to work harder to detect sound and interpret it. Your left always feeling tired as your other senses are robbed of energy.
Finally, the National Council on Aging reports there is a clear correlation between loss of hearing and depression, specifically, when left untreated, age related loss of hearing.
Treating hearing loss, with hearing aids or other hearing technology, can decrease or even get rid of these risks, and a hearing test is the first step for correct treatment.
An expert hearing test is a painless and comfortable way to find out a lot about your hearing and your health, so why are you waiting to schedule your appointment?