Hearing Tests

Tell your doctor if you:

• Have recently been exposed to any painfully loud noise or to a noise that made your ears ring. Avoid loud noises for 16 hours prior to having a thorough hearing test.
• Are taking or have taken antibiotics that can damage hearing, such as gentamicin.
• Have had any problems hearing normal conversations or noticed any other signs of possible hearing loss.
• Have recently had a cold or ear infection.

Before beginning any hearing tests, the health professional may check your ear canals for earwax and remove any hardened wax, which can interfere with your ability to hear the tones or words during testing.

For tests in which you wear headphones, you will need to remove eyeglasses, earrings, or hair clips that interfere with the placement of the headphones. The health professional will press on each ear to find out whether the pressure from the headphones on your outer ear will cause the ear canal to close. If so, a thin plastic tube may be placed in the ear canal before the testing to keep your ear canal open. The headphones are then placed on your head and adjusted to fit.

If you are wearing hearing aids, you may be asked to remove them for some of the tests. You may be asked to shampoo your hair before you have auditory brain stem response (ABR) testing.

Talk to your doctor about any concerns you have about the need for a hearing test, its risks, how it will be done, or what the results will mean. To help you understand the importance of this test, fill out the medical test information form (What is a Reference PDF Opens New Window document?).

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