3 Ways to Prepare for Your Hearing Test

If you have been having issues with your hearing, you may have booked an appointment with an audiologist for a hearing test. A hearing test will help determine whether there is an issue with your hearing that needs fixing. This could be a deterioration in your ability to hear or perhaps another issue such as tinnitus. Issues like this can be corrected or at the very least managed once you consult an expert. However, you will need to be prepared for your hearing test. Here are three steps that you must take.

Check your insurance coverage

If you have an issue with your hearing, you may need to get hearing aids, treatment or even surgery. Surgery will be necessary if you are having an issue with your hearing that has been caused by a physical problem, such as a growth in your ear. An abnormal bone growth in your ear can cause you to have difficulty hearing and will require treatment.

Alternatively, you may find that your audiologist recommends you get hearing aids after a hearing test. It’s important to be aware that hearing aids are not covered by every type of medical insurance. You will need to check your specific coverage and should do so before your hearing test so you won’t need to worry about the costs and issues of getting the treatment that you need.

Get your medical history

Be aware that various issues and problems can cause hearing difficulties. You might not know this, but a problem with your hearing can be triggered by certain medications. Different medications do have hearing loss as a potential side effect. If that’s the case, then an audiologist will typically recommend you switching medication to see if this fixes the issue and allows you to hear again.

Before an audiologist begins administering any tests, he or she will ask for your medical history. Your audiologist will want to determine if there is an underlying cause for your hearing loss. This could be anything and do be aware that hearing loss can be the first sign of a much more serious problem. As such, it is worth looking through your medical history to check for any issues that could be present.

You might also need to answer questions about your lifestyle. Make sure that you think about any substances that you may use as this could also impact your hearing.

Plan the time you need

You might be wondering about the length of a hearing test. For a medical study, hearing tests are actually quite short. You probably will spend no more than an hour with your audiologist. Much of this time will be spent discussing treatment options after you have completed the test. As such, you don’t have to worry about it taking up a massive part of your day. Making an hour or two in your schedule will be more than enough time for the full examination.