Audiology And The Hearing Tests

By Roxanne Cruz


The branch of science that studies hearing, balance and its disorder is called audiology. Catering to the needs of every child and adult, Long Island audiology has been serving for quite sometime. Audiology specialists, or audiologists, are health care professionals who have a specialization in diagnosing and treating disorders of the ears and its parts and other related issues.

Apart from that, they can employ various testing strategies to identify if you are within normal listening range or if you are affected to what degree. They can dispense hearing aids, cochlear implants and recommend whatever options available that may be of assistance. They can even counsel families whose family member is undergoing a new diagnosis, and teach them the necessary compensation skills.

Various assessments are used by audiologists to diagnose ear problems like evoked potential exams, otoscopy, and speech audiometry. These tests are done with calibrated equipment in a soundproofed place. A type of assessment is the otoscopy, which assesses the state of the eardrum and outer ear canal.

Tympanometry is an examination to test the middle ear, the mobility of the eardrum, and the conduction bones by creating variations of air pressure in the ear canal. Speech audiometry is a fundamental tool in assessing hearing loss and it determines if a person has discomfort or tolerance to speech stimuli and it gives information on word recognition abilities. Pure tone audiometry is the key test to determine the threshold level of an individual that determines the degree of sensory loss.

The organ of hearing, cochlea, which is part of the inner ear, can be assessed through the otoacoustics emissions evaluation. People who are having balance and dizziness issues are assessed through vestibular assessment. Evoked potential test checks the pathways from the ears to the brain, especially the auditory nerve and the brain stem.

These tests are used to evaluate the patient, hence making a confident diagnosis and treatment plan. Aside from identifying and treating the disorder, they also give options on how to manage your ear problems, some of these are aid amplification and rehabilitation programs. Audiologists can make the necessary adjustments to your listening aid since they are equipped with the knowledge to make a proper decision.

Audiologists are usually part of a cohesive team of health care specialists, like physicians, physical therapists, speech pathologists, and occupational therapists, to bring a more effective treatment program. Most ear doctors work with the general populace, but there are some who specialize in working with children. Others are more interested in research related to hearing disorders and some opt to work in schools.

To become an audiology doctor, you need to finish the four years of education for a baccalaureate degree and the four years of training and education for the doctorate degree. Almost two thousand hours of clinical rounds are needed to be fully prepared in identifying and treating disorders. Audiologists are required to have a license in all states.

It is a rapidly developing field whose scientists are in demand in the US and worldwide and many states require newborns to be screened for sensory loss and apply early intervention. These doctors are often directly involved with their patients who are usually young children or elderly citizens. Long Island Audiology have improved the quality of life of their patients by giving back the gift of hearing to them.




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