What To Expect At Your First Visit
Your experience matters to us.
It’s normal to experience a bit of nerves before visiting a healthcare professional for the first time, so at Sound Advice Hearing Center it’s our goal to make your visit as relaxed and comfortable as possible. We’ll take the time to thoroughly explain the details of your appointment.
It is our goal to meet your individual needs and priorities. Our comprehensive hearing evaluations utilize a series of tests to accurately diagnose and treat your symptoms. We’ll present a variety of solutions and empower our patients to make the treatment choices that best meet their needs.
Before Your First Appointment
Your first appointment with us is an important opportunity for us to get to know your needs, concerns, and hopes for long-term results. Prior to seeing one of our specialists, you’ll be asked to complete a new patient intake form, which requests personal information, like:
- Information on any injuries or trauma
- Exposure to loud noises
- An overview of your medical history
- Any medications you may be currently taking
You’re more than welcome to bring in a loved one to your hearing evaluation with you. Hearing loss affects more than just the patient, and we’re happy to answer any questions that you or your family may have. Having support from a friend, partner, or family member can also be helpful as you choose the best treatment option for your needs.
Hearing Consultation: Reviewing Your Needs
A comprehensive visit a Sound Advice Hearing Center typically takes between 30 and 60 minutes. We begin your hearing evaluation by getting to know you and your concerns. Together, we’ll review your information and discuss the challenges you’re experiencing. We need to understand your history, current symptoms, and unique hearing needs for your lifestyle helps us determine the cause of, and solution for, any hearing issues we may uncover.
We then start by checking the inside of your ears to ensure they are clear and healthy. Any ear wax blockage or abnormalities could be contributing factors to your hearing impairment, so it’s helpful for our professionals to rule out these possibilities before beginning your hearing test.
Hearing Testing
We’re proud to offer our patients the latest technology when it comes to your hearing test. We’ll ask you to put on a pair of specialized headphones and we will play a variety of sounds that range in frequency and volume. By raising your hand each time you hear a sound emitted, it allows us to better understand which tones you are able to clearly hear and which ones you cannot. Since hearing loss presents itself in a variety of ways, this information will paint an overall picture of the best types of treatment for your specific needs.
The hearing evaluation may include any of the following tests:
- Air conduction and bone conduction testing
- Speech testing
- Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) testing
- Auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing
- Tympanometry or acoustic immittance testing
Reviewing Your Results
After completing a series of tests, our professionals will sit down with you and discuss your results. You can feel confident that each element of your hearing loss will be explained in detail, as your understanding of this information will largely impact the hearing loss treatment plan that you select. Details including the type and degree of your hearing loss will be clearly explained and you’ll have an idea of how often you may be missing the sounds around you.
If hearing aids are recommended, we’ll examine the wide range of options available. Depending on your type of hearing loss, your lifestyle, and your budget, we’ll make specific recommendations but will ultimately leave the decision in your hands. Our job is to inform and guide you but never to make a choice for you.
After Your Visit
Wearing hearing aids can sometimes come with a bit of a learning curve, but it’s our goal at Sound Advice Hearing Center to provide support every step of the way. Most patients find success by taking a slow and steady approach to wearing their devices, and slowly increase the amount of time they wear them each day. Wearing hearing aids can sometimes come with a bit of a learning curve, but it’s our goal at Sound Advice Hearing Center to provide support every step of the way.
Our team is always here with an open-door policy and we welcome any and all questions as you get used to your devices. We recommend follow-up visits as well as regular maintenance for your hearing aids in order to achieve the best results possible. Click here to learn more about our fitting process.