Hearing Tests

I took my fiance with me to my hearing test on Saturday so he could better understand how my hearing works.  I haven’t had a hearing test in awhile, but I had a pretty good idea what to expect.  For those who don’t know, a hearing test usually involves the following:

1. Test of different levels of sound. If you hear the beep, whistle, tone, etc, you push the button.  The tones are done at different frequencies in both ears.
2. Headset that is set behind the ear to see if there is anything interfering with the movement of the inner ear bones.  Tones are used again for this one. This test can be a tad uncomfortable.
3. Test where you repeat a series of words.

The above tests were all ones I have done before.  However, there were a few differences. Instead of audiologist reading a list of words to me and covering her mouth with a piece of paper, there was an automated program that read the words to me.  It was pretty effective, but there was still a robotic quality to the voice that I think made it a bit difficult to understand.

For example, one word was “headlight”.  I heard the “light” part, but I wasn’t sure about the beginning.  So, I said, “Budlite”.  I think my fiance found that pretty funny.

One test I wasn’t familiar with was one in which I was supposed to push a button when the sound got too loud for comfort.  The audiologist told me it was to help calibrate how loud to make my hearing aids.  Interesting test, but not very pleasant since loud noises make my ears hurt.

My audiogram showed that my perception of low tones is nearly normal.  In fact, I have very little to no issues with low tones.  It’s the high tones that give me problems.  I hardly hear these at all. During the test, my fiance was sitting next to me, and he told me later that he could hear the high tones clearly through my headset and was baffled that I couldn’t hear it.

Low frequencies are what inform me that someone is talking to me.  This is how I know someone is trying to get my attention.  High frequencies are where understanding comes from, thus my high frequency hearing loss makes it very difficult for me to understand what people are saying to me.  Most consonants in words are spoken at high frequencies, which explains why I have difficulties with consonants.

Anyway . . .I should be getting new hearing aids soon! Very exciting!