Meet Your Hearing Specialist: Preparing for Your Fall Check-Up

If you’ve been experiencing challenges in hearing certain sounds or keeping up with conversations, you may want to consider scheduling an appointment with an audiologist. Your ability to hear effectively is crucial for various aspects of daily living, including staying connected with loved ones and ensuring your safety in various environments. To guarantee that your hearing is functioning optimally, arranging a check-up with a qualified hearing specialist is essential.

Why You Need to Visit a Hearing Specialist

An audiologist is a healthcare professional who is trained to diagnose and treat issues with your hearing. They are the go-to experts when it comes to all matters related to your auditory system. Whether you are experiencing hearing loss or you want to maintain your hearing health, visiting a hearing specialist is a wise decision.

Before diving into the details of what your fall check-up will include, you want to understand the reasons for a check-up. These appointments are designed to preserve your remaining hearing abilities and ensure that your hearing aids can still provide the right correction for you.

However, if you’re not sure whether or not you have hearing loss, it’s important to look out for common symptoms, like turning up the television volume louder than others need it, asking people to repeat themselves and struggling to hear in group settings. Hearing loss can come in different shapes and forms, and, more importantly, it can affect people of all ages. It is important to understand that hearing loss is not a disorder that only targets older people.

You can also experience difficulties in hearing as a result of an ear infection that could have damaged your inner ear, or a traumatic injury. Hearing loss is never something to be feared or stigmatized, and if you find yourself dealing with it, an audiologist can help you recover your quality of life.

Some of the most common reasons you should arrange for a yearly check-up for your hearing are:

• You want to detect issues early so you can get the correction you need before hearing loss starts affecting your life.
• Diagnosis is the start of your journey to recover and improve your quality of life when you have hearing loss.
• Preserving your health, not only physical but also mental health. Undiagnosed hearing loss can isolate you from your social circles. Gradually it can also leave an entire section of your brain inactive as hearing loss impacts the sound process ability of the brain. As parts of your brain become inactive, this can lead to cognitive decline.

Your Fall Check-Up with an Audiologist

Now, let’s focus on how to prepare for your fall check-up with your hearing specialist. Here are some steps to ensure a productive and information appointment:

First of all, you may want to gather your medical history. Some medications or health conditions could affect your hearing, which is why your hearing specialist needs to know about those. Additionally, if you have a history of recurring ear infections or injuries, this is also worth mentioning.

Make a list of your concerns if you have any. Perhaps, you are struggling with high-pitched sounds or you find that you have to turn the volume up when watching TV. Use your check-up to discuss your worries and ask the questions you might have about your hearing. Thai is also the opportunity to talk about future plans that could affect your ear health, such as attending concerts or diving.

If you are nervous, you can talk to your hearing specialist about bringing a companion. There is nothing wrong with having a friend or a trusted relative by your side for emotional support. They can also help and offer valuable insights about their experience of your hearing.

The hearing assessment will consist of different steps, including an audiometry test, where you listen to various tones and indicate when you can hear them. Your audiologist will also proceed to a physical examination to ensure that there is no obstruction. Further tests could include tympanometry, which is measuring your inner ear response to pressure and pure tone. The assessment will determine your hearing health and ability, and highlight the areas that may need attention.

As you discuss the results and get to understanding your hearing profile, this is the occasion to talk about hearing aids. If you already wear hearing aids, perhaps your devices need adjusting to your new requirements. It may be possible that you need to upgrade to a newer model of hearing aids. Your hearing specialist is here to help you understand the different options available, and more importantly what you could gain from treating your hearing loss.

Are you considering planning a fall check-up? Reach out to the team at Hear in MetroWest to schedule your appointment by calling (774) 375-0373.