Buying a hearing aid from the nearest hearing clinic is just like buying spectacles. You can choose from a selection of designs and looks from anywhere, be it from online or physical shops, but you need to know the suitable degree that is needed for you to see clearly.
Same goes with hearing aids, you have to determine what type of hearing aid is suitable for you to hear clearly and that is why a hearing test is mandatory before purchasing one.
Suitable hearing aid
There are different types of hearing aids to manage different kinds of hearing problems. Some hearing aids help manage mild-to-moderate hearing loss in adults, others are more suited for severe hearing loss.
There are different levels of pitches that hearing aids produced to counter different levels of hearing loss. Having a hearing test will help determine the configuration and hearing aid necessary to manage or provide relief to your hearing loss.
Professional detection of hearing loss
There are free hearing tests that can be taken online to see if you still have a perfect hearing but they may not meet the criteria of an ENT (ear, nose & throat doctor), an audiologist or even your hearing specialist.
The most common factor of hearing loss is age-related but there are other health problems that might surface after a hearing test. High blood pressure and diabetes, for instance, have been associated with hearing loss, too.
There is a series of professional and special assessments which can confirm the type of hearing loss you have and the extent of your hearing impairment. This will factor into your hearing aid purchase decision.
If you do not want to go through professional hearing tests, you might not get the right hearing aids for your hearing condition and the ones you have gotten will become unnecessary costs for you.
Selection of special features
In some cases, there are optional features that can be added into your hearing aids to improve your ability to hear clearly in particular situations. These features include but are not limited to noise reduction, directional microphones, rechargeable batteries, telecoils, wireless connectivity, remote controls, direct audio input, variable programming, environmental noise control and synchronization.
For your convenience, telecoils make it easier to hear when talking on a telecoil-compatible phone so that you do not have to remove when you are making calls.
For your discretion, remote controls on the phone via specialized apps can adjust the settings of your hearing aids without being discovered. It saves you from being embarrassed if you do not want to draw people’s attention to your hearing aids.
Wireless connectivity also picks up other signals such as phone and music and sends it straight to the hearing aid.
To be environmentally-friendly, rechargeable batteries are available if you do not want to constantly throw away batteries after usage.
For clear hearing, environmental noise control can be added to block out other noises in your environment, especially wind noise. These are some features which can add to an enjoyable hearing experience with your hearing aids.
Try out the hearing aids
With the hearing test, you will also get to try out different hearing aids to confirm which one is the best for you so that your hearing care specialist is able to tune it to perfection to suit your daily hearing needs. Results from hearing tests can help them configure the hearing aids properly and come up with the final product which you will later come back for to have it fitted and adjusted if needed.
Proper hearing test should be done
The importance of the hearing test can’t be stressed enough, especially the one that requires you to be in a sound treatment facility for the actual test. (Highlight: The Listening Lab in Malaysia has a mobile hearing center that features a customised sound treatment facility to achieve a highly accurate hearing test result.)
Hearing tests that suggest going to your home for the assessment, using the internet to test or the likes that sends you an ipad to remotely do the tests ARE NOT ACCURATE.
These alternative hearing tests do not use any sound enclosures or sound treated rooms and are not measured by medical grade audiometers will often show a wrong result.
A wrong/inaccurate hearing test result could lead to an inaccurate hearing aid fitting resulting in over or under amplification, which can cause negative impact to your hearing levels.
The Listening Lab, a leading hearing care clinic in Malaysia, has been offering quality hearing care services to hearing loss patients including a professional hearing test. For your hearing test needs, please feel free to contact us.