What Happens at a Hearing Test Appointment?
Lots of people think they are just going to come along to have a quick hearing test to see how well they can hear but it’s so much more than that.
Your hearing consultation isn’t just about finding out what noises you can hear through a hearing test. We look at the bigger picture of your overall well being, your ear health, how your brain deals with sounds, and understanding the effects all this has on your life, or the life you want to lead. The clearer our understanding is, the better we can help you.
Your hearing can have a big impact on your daily life, whether that is interacting with family and friends, at work, or socially, and it really helps if we can understand your unique situation. Before you visit us, it can be helpful to observe and have a think about how well you hear in different situations – what do you find difficult? Do you avoid or withdraw from certain situations? What do your family and friends notice? What would you like to improve?
It’s also really important that we ask you some questions about your ear and medical history too.
Examination
We will examine your ears to make sure they are healthy, and if we find a little bit too much wax we will offer to remove it using microsuction. If we spot anything else, we might want to let your GP know too.
hearing testing
Once we are happy that your ears are clear and healthy, we will perform some tests. This will always include Audiometry, which tells us what sounds your ears can detect. If we feel that other tests are appropriate based on your history, lifestyle, examination and audiometry results then we will continue with these. We will explain everything as we go along.
Unlike many places, we believe in using our clinical judgement to select the appropriate tests for each individual, and not putting you through unnecessary testing for the ‘theatre’, or to put a tick in a box. If we do a test, you can be assured that we feel it can give us valuable information (likewise, if we don’t do a test it’s because we don’t feel that it is appropriate).
discussion
After we have finished all the testing, we will explain the results and what they mean for you. We will give you our recommendation of where to go from here based on everything we have talked about and observed, but we will never pressure you into anything. If we recommend hearing aids we are always happy for you to mull things over and talk to family and friends. You are welcome to obtain your hearing aids from us at Cardiff Hearing, another private provider, or even the NHS. This is why we charge for our consultations. We get our wages regardless of whether you have hearing aids with us, the NHS, or otherwise. We are audiologists, not sales people.
If, of course, you decide to have hearing aids with us at Cardiff Hearing, we will refund you the cost of the initial consultation.
medical referral
There are some things that we need to let your GP know about, for example if we spot something that needs medical treatment like an infection, or something that should be investigated by an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. While we are experienced audiologists, we are not doctors, and as such we need to pass some things on. If we spot a referable condition we will discuss it with you and make sure you are happy for us to contact your surgery.
Alternatively, if you prefer, we are happy to refer you to our associate private GPs or to a private ENT consultant.
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