What You Should Know About Hearing Tests In Fairbanks, AK
Difficulty understanding conversations, following television dialogue, or hearing clearly in background noise can be signs of an underlying hearing or auditory processing disorder. Because hearing loss often develops gradually, many people are unaware of changes until communication becomes noticeably more challenging.
At Aurora Audiology, the diagnostic process begins with a comprehensive hearing evaluation. Unlike a simple screening, diagnostic testing assesses the entire auditory system, helping identify the type, degree, and potential cause of hearing difficulties. Depending on your symptoms, testing may evaluate hearing sensitivity, speech understanding, middle ear function, auditory processing abilities, and other aspects of auditory health.
The information gathered during your evaluation allows us to develop personalized, evidence-based treatment recommendations and establish a baseline for monitoring your hearing and brain health over time.
How Do We Hear?
Hearing Tests at Aurora Audiology
These are some of the most common hearing tests, but they may represent only one part of a comprehensive audiologic evaluation. Depending on your symptoms, hearing history, treatment goals, and the results of your initial diagnostic hearing evaluation, additional testing may be recommended to further assess hearing, communication, auditory processing, cognitive function, or candidacy for advanced treatment options, including:
Auditory processing assessments
Cognitive Screening
Validated questionnaires and outcome measures
Speech-in-noise and cochlear implant candidacy testing
Those are the most common, but we do have other types of tests available. After examining your symptoms and overall hearing health, we’ll determine which hearing tests best meet your needs.
What happens during a hearing test?
A comprehensive hearing evaluation is performed in a controlled, quiet testing environment and consists of several assessments designed to evaluate different parts of the auditory system. Depending on your needs, testing may include measurements of hearing sensitivity, speech understanding, middle ear function, cognitive screening, and other specialized diagnostic procedures.
Following your evaluation, your audiologist will review the results with you, explain any findings, and discuss personalized recommendations for treatment, monitoring, or further testing if needed.
What does a hearing test show?
The standard diagnostic hearing evaluation provides detailed information about your hearing and auditory health. Results are often displayed on an audiogram, a graph that measures hearing sensitivity across different pitches and loudness levels. This testing helps determine:
- The type, degree, and configuration of hearing loss, if present.
- Which sounds, pitches, and speech frequencies are heard clearly or with difficulty.
- How well you understand speech in quiet listening environments.
- Whether hearing difficulties may involve the ear, auditory nerve, or may be related to the brain and/or auditory processing system.
- Whether additional treatment options, such as hearing aids, auditory rehabilitation, medical referral, cochlear implant evaluation, or other advanced hearing technologies, should be considered.
What is “Normal” Hearing Anyway?
While hearing thresholds between 0–15 dB HL are often considered normal, many audiologists also recognize 15–25 dB HL as a slight or borderline hearing loss range. Although individuals in this range may function well in many situations, they may still experience difficulty understanding speech in background noise or other challenging listening environments.
The audiogram is just the beginning—hearing health is about much more than a number on a graph. Some individuals have “normal” hearing thresholds yet still struggle to understand speech due to auditory processing difficulties, cognitive factors or other auditory system concerns. Likewise, there is no “normal” amount of hearing loss for any age; hearing loss is hearing loss, whether you are 5 years of age or 100!
For this reason, audiologists evaluate not only hearing sensitivity, but may further investigate speech understanding in noise, listening effort, auditory processing, and the impact hearing has on everyday life. The goal is to understand not just how well your ears detect sound, but how effectively your entire auditory system helps you communicate and stay connected to the world around you.
Why is a hearing test important?
A hearing test is one of the simplest ways to protect your hearing, communication abilities, and long-term brain health. Even if you believe your hearing is “good,” establishing a baseline today allows future changes to be identified earlier and monitored more accurately. Comprehensive hearing evaluations can also provide valuable insight into communication difficulties, listening fatigue, tinnitus, auditory processing concerns, and other conditions that may affect relationships, work performance, and overall quality of life.
Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic health conditions worldwide, affecting people of all ages—not just older adults. Because hearing changes often occur gradually, many individuals are unaware of a problem until communication becomes noticeably more difficult.
Hearing Loss by the Numbers
- 1 in 5 people worldwide currently experience hearing loss.
- 1 in 8 Americans has measurable hearing loss, which includes 1 in 3 adults over age 65, and 1 in 2 adults over the age of 75.
- 2–3 out of every 1,000 children in the U.S. are born with detectable hearing loss, leading to 5 million U.S. children and adolescents that will be identified with some degree of hearing loss by age 18.
Whether you’re experiencing hearing difficulties or simply want to establish a baseline for the future, a comprehensive hearing evaluation is an important investment in your hearing and brain health.
At Aurora Audiology, we want you to enjoy the best possible hearing. Call 907-451-4327 or contact us online to schedule a hearing test with us today.