Common Questions To Ask Your Audiologist

An audiologist is a highly trained and qualified medical professional who is the best and first choice to help you address any concerns related to your ears, hearing health, and balance. Should you have any questions regarding these aspects of your health, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask them. 

However, if you are planning for your appointment with the audiologist, there may be some questions you want answered to ensure you get the most out of your visit. You can make better use of your appointment by getting the information you need, and the following questions can help that.

How do I get to know my current hearing health?

The most common question and concern that audiologists help if is the current hearing health of the individual. This is usually asked because a person might have reason to believe they have hearing loss, and audiologists can test your hearing through a professional evaluation. Hearing tests involve exploring and documenting your full range of hearing, as well as checking for some of the potential causes. 

At the end of the appointment, the audiologist will present you with an audiogram that shows your full range of hearing, including what pitches, volumes, and levels of speech you can hear effectively.

What can I do to treat hearing loss?

It is important to treat hearing loss. Untreated hearing loss has been related to issues such as isolation, higher levels of stress, depression and even dementia. As such, it’s crucial to get in touch with your audiologist to see if you require treatment or can live with peace of mind. The single most common approach used to treat hearing loss is that of having hearing aids fitted. 

Hearing aids amplify and adjust noises from the environment electronically so you can better perceive sounds. They do not cure hearing loss, but they can greatly improve your quality of life with it. Audiologists can help you choose, fit, and maintain your hearing aids to maximize those improvements.

What causes hearing loss?

There are many causes of hearing loss, but if you want to know which, specifically, is affecting you, then your audiologist can help you get to the bottom of the matter. Usually, when there is no evidence of other causes, they might say it is due to exposure to unsafe levels of noise or the degeneration of hair cells in the ears as a result of aging. 

However, during their inspection of the outer ear, they may also be able to see issues such as earwax blockages, ear infections, and damage as a result of trauma to the ear that might be affecting your hearing. When possible, the audiologist will help you treat the root causes of hearing loss, not just the symptom.

Can I prevent hearing loss?

Prevention of further hearing loss is key, whether or not you have already been diagnosed with it. After all, if you do experience hearing loss, it can be more severe due to aging and unsafe noise exposure. The audiologist can recommend a range of approaches to prevent further hearing loss depending on your lifestyle. This can include recommending the right hearing protection, wearing your hearing aids when necessary, and so on.

How do I wear my hearing aids?

For any who might be concerned that wearing hearing aids may be difficult in any way, the audiologist will teach you everything you need to know about wearing, using, and adjusting them in daily life as much as you want. 

Typically, new hearing aid users will only wear them for a short period of time each day at the start, wearing them longer as they get further acclimated to the devices. The audiologist can help you put together a schedule that allows you to get gradually used to them so that you’re more comfortable with your hearing aids by the time you are wearing them throughout the day.

How do I care for my hearing aids?

Aside from helping choose hearing aids and fitting them, audiologists help their patients wear their hearing aids and take care of them. This can include providing advice on how to clean, store and care for them so that they are in the best possible condition. Audiologists can also perform a wide range of minor repairs on most hearing aids.

If you have any other questions or you want to get more answers that are specific to your needs, such as a look at your own hearing health, then you should get in touch with Rocky Mountain Hearing & Balance today by calling on (801) 685-3456.