Hearing Loss

The Advanced Center for Specialty Care treats patients with hearing loss.

Audiologists are individuals who “provide comprehensive diagnostic and rehabilitative services for all areas of auditory, vestibular, and related disorders” (ASHA, 1996).

Services provided:

• Comprehensive audiological evaluations
• Acoustic immittance
• Otoacoustic emission testing
• Auditory brainstem testing
• Videonystagmography
• Sinusoidal vertical axis rotational testing (VOR)
• Modified computerized dynamic posturography
• Hearing aid evaluation
• Hearing aid dispensing
• Hearing protection dispensing

Hearing Health Quick Test

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you may have a hearing problem. If you’ve answered yes to any on the questions, we recommend scheduling an appointment for a full hearing evaluation with our audiologist.

• Do you feel that people are sometimes mumbling or not speaking clearly?
• Do you sometimes feel that you can hear words but not understand them?
• Do you have difficulty following conversation in noisy settings?
• Do you find yourself asking people to speak up or repeat themselves?
• Do you experience ringing, buzzing, or noises in your ears?
• Do you find men's voices easier to understand than women's?
• Do you have difficulty hearing children’s voices?
• Do you hear better with one ear than the other ear?
• Have any of your relatives (by birth) had a hearing loss?
• Have you had any significant noise exposure at work, during recreation or in military service?
• Do you experience difficulty following dialogue in the theater?
• Do you find that you need to turn up the volume on your television, radio, and/or stereo to hear well?
• Do you sometimes find it difficult to understand a speaker at a public meeting or a religious service?
• Do you experience difficulty understanding soft or whispered speech?
• Do you sometimes have difficulty understanding conversation on the telephone?
• Does a hearing problem cause you to feel embarrassed when meeting new people?
• Do you feel handicapped by a hearing problem?
• Does a hearing problem cause you to visit friends, relatives, or neighbors less often than you would like?
• Does a hearing problem cause you to talk to family members less often than you would like?
• Does a hearing problem cause you to feel depressed?

Hearing Aid Styles

Hearing aids come in a wide range of sizes and styles. The type of hearing aid recommended depends on your individual needs.

There are four primary styles of modern hearing aids. They are: Behind-The-Ear (BTE); In-The-Ear (ITE), In-The-Canal (ITC), and Completely-In-The-Canal (CIC).

Behind-The-Ear (BTE)	In-The-Ear (ITE)	In-The-Canal (ITC)	Completely-In-The- Canal (CIC)

Hearing Aid Technology

Today's technology provides significant advances over older conventional hearing aids. With the advent of modern computer software, we now have a vast selection of programmable hearing aids using digital processing and directional microphones for better hearing in many listening situations.

For more information about hearing aids, see the Consumer Guides on the American Academy of Audiology’s web site.

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