Approximately 32
million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, but only 5.8 million
use hearing aids. But technology continues to improve dramatically and
many of the problems that couldn’t be helped in the past can now be
solved. In 90% of cases, hearing problems can be helped with the use of
hearing aids. At Audiological Consultants of Atlanta, 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 vestibular tesdting 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 or Neuromonics tinnitus
treatment option. |
|
Dizziness,
unsteadiness, vertigo. |
Benign paroxysmal
positioning vertigo (BPPV); Meniere’s disease; labyrinthitis; acoustic
neuroma; oval/round window fistula. |
Audiological
evaluation including vestibular testing 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. |