Approximately 32 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, but only 5.8 million use
with the use of hearing aids.
At Audiological Consultants of
America, our licensed audiologists
provide a full range of hearing health care services to
children and adults of all ages, including diagnostic
hearing evaluations, and a wide
selection of technologically advanced
hearing aids with the expertise to
match. We receive many phone calls
from physicians asking which patients
are appropriate candidates for
hearing tests and hearing aids. So
we’ve developed this Physician’s
Guide to Audiology Services to help
answer some of your questions.
|
Symptoms and Complaints |
Possible Etiologies Not an Exhaustive List |
Possible Evaluation and Treatment Services |
|
“I hear but can’t understand” |
Presbycusis; sensorineural hearing loss secondary to noise exposure or ototoxic drug reaction; genetic deterioration of hearing; cochlear otosclerosis |
Audiological evaluation; hearing aid services |
|
Sudden hearing loss |
Impacted cerumen or foreign body in ear canal; otitis media; ototoxic reaction; cochlear hydrops; viral infection of vascular deficiency in cochlea; acoustic neuroma |
Audiological evaluation including ENG and ABR; hearing aid services |
|
Sensation of “fullness” or pressure in ears |
Otitis media; intermittent or chronic negative middle ear pressure; Meniere’s disease; low-frequency hearing loss; otosclerosis |
Audiological evaluation; tympanometry |
|
Difficulty understanding in noise or on the telephone; academic problems; poor reading skills; short attention span; speech/language delay |
Peripheral hearing loss; central auditory processing problem |
Audiological evaluation; central auditory processing evaluation; hearing aid services; assistive listening devices |
|
Tinnitus, head noises, “music,” roaring, hissing, whistling, clanging, etc. |
Impacted cerumen or foreign body in ear canal; noise exposure; Meniere’s disease; acoustic neuroma; progressive sensorineural hearing loss; ototoxic reaction to drugs |
Audiological evaluation; OAE; ABR; tinnitus evaluation and treatment, such as tinnitus maskers and/or Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) for suppression of annoying effects of tinnitus |
|
Dizziness, unsteadiness, vertigo |
Benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo (BPPV); Meniere’s disease; labyrinthitis; acoustic neuroma; oval/round window fistula |
Audiological evaluation including ENG and ABR; Canalith Repositioning Procedure (CRP) for treatment of BPPV; fistula tests |
|
Facial numbness; asymmetry of facial muscles |
Bell’s Palsy; facial nerve compression; acoustic neuroma |
Audiological evaluation including tympanometry and contra- and ipsilateral acoustic reflexes; ABR; OAE |
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