What is a Diagnostic Hearing Evaluation?
A diagnostic Hearing Evaluation is a battery of tests used to assess an individual’s hearing as well as the health and condition of the auditory pathway and surrounding anatomy. Procedures include otoscopy, middle ear analysis, acoustic reflex testing, air and bone conduction pure tone threshold testing, word recognition/speech testing and otoacoustic emissions. The evaluation may also include assessing your ability to understand speech in the presence of background noise. These procedures are helpful in determining whether a hearing loss is the result of a treatable medical condition that warrants medical or surgical management or it the hearing loss is the result of a non-medical condition such as noise exposure or aging. It will reveal the type, configuration and degree of loss.
