What is Audiometry

Why is an audiometry test done?

1. Chronic ear infection
2. Birth defects
3. Ear injury
4. Inherited conditions like otosclerosis, which happens due to abnormal bone growth that prevents structures within your ear from functioning properly
5. Exposure to loud noise greater than 85dB
6. Ruptured eardrum
7. Inner ear disease like Meniere’s disease or an autoimmune disease that affects your inner ear.

Which are the tests performed during audiometry?

Another hearing test helps your audiologist to determine your ability to differentiate speech from background noise. A sound will be played, and you will be asked to repeat the words you hear. It is an important test in diagnosing hearing loss.

A tuning fork can determine how well you can hear vibrations through the ears. Your audiologist will put the metal device against the bone behind the ear. The bone oscillator tests how the vibrations pass through the bone to the inner ear. It is a mechanical device that transmits vibrations like a tuning fork.

What is Tympanometry?

Why is a tympanometry test done?

1. Middle ear infections like otitis media
2. Fluid in your middle ear
3. Problems with the Eustachian tube that connects the nose and upper throat to your middle ear
4. Perforated tympanic membrane

Which are the tests performed during tympanometry?

Subsequently, they will insert the probe of the tympanometer. It will have a soft end similar to an ear plug. The probe’s end will form an airtight seal inside the ear canal. It will transfer air into the ear while emitting low tones. During this time, you might feel the pressure build up in the ear.

The probe has an attached microphone that will record the movement of your eardrum in response to the air pressure and sound. The tympanometer will then create a tympanogram, a graph that displays the vibrations reaching your eardrum.