Important insight into your state of health is provided by a hearing test. Hearing tests can sometimes uncover other health concerns because the ears are so sensitive. What will a hearing exam tell you about your health.
A Hearing Test, What is it?
Out of the various kinds of hearing exams, putting on earphones and listening to a series of tones is the basic assessment. In order to discover the depth of your hearing loss, the hearing expert will play the tones at various volumes and pitches.
In order to make sure you hear sounds correctly, another hearing test will play words in one ear and you will repeat them back. At times, this test is purposely done with background sound to see whether that affects your ability to hear. To be able to get an accurate measurement for each side, tests are done on each ear separately.
What is The Significance of Hearing Test Results?
Whether a person has hearing loss, and the extent of it, is what the normal hearing test identifies. Normal hearing in adults with minor hearing loss is 25 decibels or less. From there, hearing professionals gauge hearing loss as:
- Moderate
- Profound
- Severe
- Mild
- Moderate to severe
The decibel level of the hearing loss defines the degree of impairment.
What Else do Hearing Tests Determine?
Other hearing tests can measure the thresholds of air and bone conduction, viability of the structures in the middle ear like the eardrum, type of hearing loss, and a person’s ability to hear clearly when background noise is present.
But hearing exams can also reveal other health issues including:
- Diabetes. Damaged blood vessels, such as the ones in the inner ear, can theoretically be harmed by high levels of sugar in the blood.
- Meniere’s disease and other problems with dizziness and vertigo.
- And, Otosclerosis, which if diagnosed early enough, has the possibility of being reversed.
- Heart and circulation problems. The inner ear has one blood vessel, and that makes it more susceptible to fluctuations in blood pressure and cholesterol.
- Paget’s disease, which can cause severe headaches and pain in the joints and bones.
- Rheumatoid arthritis. Hearing loss is 300% percent more likely in people with RA..
The hearing specialist will take all the information uncovered by hearing tests and use it to determine if you are suffering from:
- Abnormal bone growths
- Damage from chronic disease or infections
- Injury caused by exposure to loud noises, ototoxic chemicals or medications
- Another medical issue like high blood pressure causing hearing loss
- Tumors
- Age related hearing loss
- Damage from trauma
You can try to find ways to protect your health and take care of your hearing loss once you discover why you have it.
The hearing professional will also examine the results of the examination to identify risk factors caused by your loss of hearing and create a preemptive strategy to lessen those risks.
If You Ignore Hearing Loss, What Are The Risks?
Medical science is starting to understand how hearing loss affects a person’s health and quality of life. Researchers from Johns Hopkins examined 636 individuals over 12 years. They found that a greater risk of dementia comes with loss of hearing. The more substantial the hearing loss, the greater the risk.
Two times the risk of dementia comes with moderate hearing loss, based on this study. Three times the risk comes with moderate hearing loss and five times the risk with severe loss of hearing.
Also, social decline is apparent in people with loss of hearing. People will avoid conversations if they have difficulty following them. Less time with friends and family and more time alone can be the outcome.
A hearing test could clarify a recent bout of fatigue, as well. In order to comprehend what you hear, the brain has to do work. It needs to work harder to perceive and interpret sound when there is hearing loss. Your left always feeling tired because your other senses are robbed of energy.
Finally, the National Council on Aging states there is a clear correlation between depression and loss of hearing, specifically age-related hearing loss when it is left untreated.
Treating hearing loss, with hearing aids or other hearing technology, can mitigate or even get rid of these risks, and step one for correct treatment is a hearing test.
An expert hearing test is a pain-free and comfortable way to determine a lot about your hearing and your health, so why are you waiting to schedule your appointment?