| Most responsible adults try to make at least a decent | | | | if someone speaks to you quietly. Part of the whisper |
| effort at seeing a doctor every year for a check-up. | | | | test also involves having a conversation while there is |
| Whether it’s getting one’s teeth cleaned to | | | | a din in the background that is slightly loud. Before any |
| prevent the expenses of filling cavities and having root | | | | of these hearing loss tests are administered, though, |
| canals later, or regular physicals that help catch more | | | | doctors usually do a quick and painless examination of |
| serious problems before they become inoperable, | | | | your ears, which often will determine that the actual |
| having a good relationship with your doctor and being | | | | trouble is simply a bit of blockage due to excessive |
| diligent enough to schedule appointments is very | | | | earwax build-up, or sometimes more rarely, some sort |
| important. | | | | of ear-related injury. |
| One part of the body often gets ignored when it’s | | | | Sometimes, to better understand what may have |
| time to improve one’s health, and yet that part of | | | | caused hearing loss, more elaborate tests are done, |
| the body is responsible for a staggering amount of | | | | but these are also painless and relatively fast and |
| input every day, much of which is how we manage to | | | | easy. Doctors often used otoacoustic emissions |
| navigate the world. Yet hearing problems take a much | | | | testing, which essentially is a way of measuring |
| longer time to get most people to a doctor, because | | | | one’s inner ear and how it is responding to sound. |
| they don’t register as urgently as something else | | | | More importantly, the test allows doctors to see how |
| might. | | | | the inner ear is communicating sound to the rest of the |
| Though having trouble with hearing might not start out | | | | ear, which is often a helpful way of determining where |
| as a priority, if things move past a certain point, it | | | | exactly problems are occurring in the scheme of |
| definitely will become one. As always, prevention is | | | | things. |
| much better than a cure, and one of the best ways to | | | | While a yearly hearing exam is a good idea for |
| prevent needing a lot of assistance with hearing is to | | | | anyone concerned about health issues, it is of particular |
| be sure to have yearly hearing exams. | | | | importance to see a doctor immediately after being |
| Hearing evaluations are short and relatively simple | | | | exposed to any sort of seriously loud or traumatizing |
| medical exams that consisted of a series of different | | | | sound. This is even more important for parents of |
| tests that are minimally invasive and test your abilities | | | | young children, who might have accidentally had their |
| to still decipher different parts of speech. By doing this, | | | | hearing put in harm’s way by being exposed to |
| doctors are able to determine in what ways your | | | | loud noise. It is also important during a hearing exam to |
| hearing has started to change or diminish. There is the | | | | give a comprehensive list of any medications you may |
| pure tone test, where you listen to tones on | | | | be taking, as certain medicines do often have the side |
| headphones, with doctors able to pinpoint the sort of | | | | effects of creating a sense of vertigo, as well as the |
| hearing loss you are experiencing based on which | | | | unfortunate side effect of sometimes causing a ringing |
| tones you can hear and which tones you cannot. | | | | in one’s ears. Sometimes fixing trouble with hearing |
| The whisper test involves simply listening to whispering | | | | can be as simple as changing medicines. |
| to see how well you can distinguish what is being said | | | | |