At some point in the course of your life, you will probably need to take a hearing test.
It is recommended that people visit an audiologist to check up on the state of their ears around the age of 50, but you may need a visit sooner if you have noticed some loss in function in your ears.
There are several things that can go wrong inside your eardrums, but they are easily recognizable by modern technology.
Here is what to expect when you do take your first hearing test as well as information that will help you interpret your results.
It's first important to understand how the ear works.
The part of the ear that you can see is designed to funnel sound into the inner ear.
When a noise reaches the inner ear, it is processed by a series of hairs meant for interpreting sound.
The outermost set of hairs amplifies sounds so that the innermost set can interpret them correctly.
The inner ear hairs then convert the vibrations of the sound into an electrical signal that the brain can understand.
Without either sets of these hairs functioning correctly, the brain cannot process all of the sounds it normally can.
When you go in for your hearing test, the first step will be a visual examination of the ear.
Your audiologist will use a tool call an otoscope that allows him to look deep inside the ear.
This is to find buildups of wax, damage to the eardrum, or any infections.
These problems can cause abnormal function of the ear that can be treated medically.
The next part of the process will take place in a soundproof room.
Your audiologist will outfit you with headphones and play different tones at different volumes for you.
The audiologist will vary the frequency range of the noises to see how well your ears can pick up different sounds.
For example, your ears might pick up a bass drum loud and clear but have trouble recognizing a high-pitched siren.
The sounds are played more and more quietly to assess how much damage has been done.
This part of the hearing test usually also includes a bone conduction analysis.
This is done in the same way as the last step, except the sounds are conveyed through vibrations in the bones behind your ears.
This bypasses the outer ear hairs and allows the audiologist to assess the damage specifically in your inner ear hairs.
Finally, you will be asked to repeat words that are played for you in headphones.
This final part helps assess how well you can recognize speech.
At the end of this process, your audiologist will give you these results in an audiogram.
This chart shows how well your ear picks up sounds in different frequency ranges.
This kind of information can help determine how much damage has been done, how to prevent it, and whether you need a device to aid your ears.
A hearing test is a painless procedure that can help you recognize the faults in your ears and determine what to do about them.
Damage done to the hairs in your ear cannot be undone, so it's important to recognize the signs and prevent further loss as soon as possible.