Audiology - Adults & Children
How Can an Audiologist Help?
Audiologists can help to prevent, diagnose, and treat hearing and balance disorders for people of all ages.
Signs and Symptoms
If you or your child can identify with the following signs and symptoms, it is recommended that you consult an Audiologist.
- You frequently ask others to repeat
- You find others are mumbling when they are talking to you.
- You turn up the volume of the television or music.
- You have difficulties hearing in social environments or environments with a lot of background noises (e.g., restaurants, parties/gatherings, ceremonies, meetings, etc.).
- You have difficulties hearing when using the telephone.
- People tell you that you speak too loudly or too softly
- You avoid certain situations because of the fear of not hearing well.
- You have ringing or buzzing in your ears.
- Speech and language delay
- History of ear infections
- Family history of hearing loss
- Tugging at ears
- Behaviour concerns
Assessment
- Comprehensive hearing assessments (ages 6 months and up)
- Infant hearing screenings (ages 0-6 months)
- Visual reinforcement audiometry (ages 6 months- 2.5 years)
- Play audiometry (ages 2.5-5 years)
- Conventional audiometry (age 5-105 years)
- Functional integrity of outer, middle, and inner ear
- Immittance- tympanometry and acoustic reflexes
- Integrity of auditory pathways (ABRs)
- Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) testing
- Comprehensive advanced assessments of higher level auditory function
- Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) [ages 7 years and up]
- Post-concussion/traumatic brain injury
- Differential diagnosis in conjunction with educational/occupational/psychological testing
- Decreased sound tolerance assessment (Tinnitus/Hyperacusis)
- Earwax removal
- Hearing aids, accessories, and assistive listening devices dispensing and consultations
Intervention
Client-centered care is the hallmark of our intervention approach.
This can include but is not limited to:
- Hearing aid/Assistive listening devices dispensing, fitting, and follow-ups
- Prescription of hearing aid/assistive listening devices
- Hearing aid cleaning and repairs
- Verification and validation of hearing devices
- Hearing aid adjustments
- Tinnitus and hyperacusis management
- Cerumen management using the latest technology, including endoscopic microsuction
- Custom hearing protection
- Aural rehabilitation to address all auditory needs
- Recognizing communication break-downs and barriers
- Auditory training
- Increasing awareness and modification of the acoustic environment
- Developing auditory, megacognitive and metalinguistic abilities
- Communication and hearing preservation strategies
- Other hearing care products can be purchased at the clinic: batteries (sizes 10, 312, 13 and 675), rechargeable batteries, earwax removal drops and otoclips (to help secure hearing instruments to user in case retention problems occur)
Hearing Device Tips
- Remove your hearing devices when going to bed.
- Do not wear your hearing devices when you go swimming or when you are taking a shower or bathing.
- If you are wearing hearing devices with disposable batteries (zinc-air), open the battery door at night when going to bed to conserve the battery.
- If you are wearing hearing devices with rechargeable batteries, recharge your hearing devices every night to ensure you have functioning hearing devices for the next day.
- The hearing instrument with red on it (red writing or red dot on the instrument or inside the battery door) must be worn on the right side. The hearing instrument with blue on it (blue writing or blue dot on the instrument or inside the battery door) is the left hearing instrument.
- Clean your hearing instruments daily to ensure proper functioning of the devices and ensure a longer lifetime of the device. Consult an audiologist to learn the best way to clean your hearing instrument.
- Consult your audiologist as soon as you notice that the hearing aid is defective to intervene sooner.
- If you notice that the hearing instrument is not as loud since the first time you received it, consult an audiologist to reassess your hearing and/or hearing aid to determine if adjustments or repairs are required.
- For more information on hearing aids, their care and troubleshooting devices, consult the Daily Care and Troubleshooting Tips for Hearing Aids resource from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2015) or the Hearing Aids: A Brief Orientation resource from the Speech-Language & Audiology Canada organization.
