Dr Colin Brown - Ear, Nose & Throat Surgeon

Hearing Tests

Audiometry is the electronic testing of hearing ability.  You will sit in a special room wearing earphones and be asked to respond when you hear a noise through the earphones.  These tests can measure your hearing levels as well as other aspects of hearing such as the ability to recognise speech against background noise.

It is possible to do your own accurate hearing assessment if you have an iphone and apple ear buds, using the free Mimi app from the app store. This can be really useful in emergency situations although the app does not do speech testing or tympanometry.

Tympanometry uses sound and air pressure to check middle ear function.  A small, soft probe is placed in your ear for a few seconds and a computer measures your ears response to sounds and pressure emitted through the probe. This test is often carried out in young children to assess for glue ear.

Otoacoustic emissions are tiny sounds made by a normally functioning ear, which are detectable with a small soft tip probe in the ear. These are very useful to help assess hearing in young children.

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