What to Expect From a Hearing Appointment

If you’ve finally booked your hearing appointment, you may be apprehensive about your anticipated experience. Our hearing is sensitive and a potential hearing impairment can be a sensitive topic, but the appointment itself should not cause you any pain or discomfort. A hearing appointment is conducted in a supportive environment, especially if you choose to bring a loved one along, and it will give you valuable insights into your hearing health and what can be done to improve it. Here is a step by step outline of what to expect from your hearing appointment:

1. You will be asked some questions about your hearing difficulties and health history in general. This allows them to better understand your specific lifestyle needs and goals. Here is an example of some questions you may be asked:

• Do you have a history of hearing health issues i.e. ear infections, ear surgery?
• Do you find it difficult to hear low voices? Do you find it difficult to understand voices through the phone?
• Have you noticed difficulty hearing through one or both of your ears?
• Have others complained about your inability to hear them, or the volume of your television/music?

2. A certified hearing healthcare professional will then take you to a testing room. Here, he/she will use an otoscope to look in your ears. The health and function of both the middle and inner ear will be assessed through a series of tests.

3. Ideally you will be seated inside a sound-treated booth to assess your hearing levels. Once inside the booth, a complete hearing assessment will be performed, which will identify if in fact hearing loss is present and will indicate the type and degree of hearing loss you may have. The ability to recognize and understand spoken words is also evaluated at this stage which will reveal if your brain’s ability to recall speech clearly has been negatively affected by living with an untreated hearing loss.

4. When your assessment is complete, the hearing healthcare professional will share the results with you and make appropriate recommendations for treatment if necessary. If your hearing professional recommends hearing aids, he/she will discuss various options and explain the advantages of specific hearing aids that are appropriate for your needs.

Each hearing aid is uniquely fit to match an individual’s hearing loss and hearing needs.  The fitting process usually takes place about two weeks after the initial assessment. During this fitting appointment, your hearing aid will be programmed using computer software and customized to fit your exact hearing levels. Highly sophisticated equipment is used to verify that your new hearing aid is providing the necessary level of amplification to help you hear your best and that it is comfortable to wear.

The hearing professional will also go through how to care for your hearing aid and any maintenance that may be required to ensure you are getting the most out of your instrument. Follow-up appointments are an important and necessary part of the rehabilitation process that allow the wearer an opportunity to provide his/her own feedback, which gives the hearing professional valuable information that will be used to adjust the hearing aids to better suit individual preferences.

The entire test, including the consultation where you are asked questions about your hearing, takes about an hour. To book a free, no obligation hearing appointment, please visit campaignforbetterhearing.org/promo-cpezcfbh.

---

CARP members save additional 10% off the regular price or limited-time promotional price of select hearing aids sold at HearingLife Canada, ListenUP! Canada and our National affiliated partners, proud sponsors of the Campaign for Better Hearing, and earn up to 2,000 AIR MILES® reward miles with their purchase!