a. Your appointment will begin with a case history to help the audiologist pinpoint problem areas and identify risk factors.
b. Otoscopy and tympanometry will follow. This involves the audiologist looking in your ears to evaluate for wax, debris, or foreign objects, as well as determine if your tympanic membrane (ear drum) looks healthy. The tympanometer will then put slight pressure into your ear canal to determine if your tympanic membrane is moving appropriately or if there are signs of congestion/infection.
c. Next, your speech recognition (the lowest level you can understand speech), word discrimination (your brains ability to process speech, even with a hearing loss), and air and bone conduction thresholds (hearing sensitivity used to classify hearing loss and to program hearing aids) will be evaluated.
d. Finally, the audiologist will review your results with you and recommend an appropriate course of action.