Hearing Resources

When you arrive for your exam, you will be greeted by the front office staff and asked to fill out several forms, including those that record your personal information, medical history and verify your insurance. You will also receive a copy of a Notice of Privacy as mandated by law. At the beginning of the evaluation, Robert Mario will review your personal information with you and will ask you some questions that are designed to discover the specific types of environments in which you may be experiencing some difficulty in hearing. To discover your hearing abilities the following will be accomplished:

  1. OTOSCOPY: Robert Mario will look into your ears by using an otoscope. This instrument is used to see the ear canal and the ear drum and whether or not there is ear wax obstructing the canal.
  2. PURETONE AUDIOMETRY: We will place headphones and a bone oscillator that are connected to an audiometer over your ears. The audiometer transmits a series of tones at a variety of volumes into your ears to determine the exact point or “threshold” at which you can hear various frequencies of sounds. When you hear a sound, you will be asked to push a button or raise your hand.
  3. SPEECH AUDIOMETRY: During this test you will listen to a series of one and two syllable words at different volumes and be asked to repeat them. This will determine the level at which the patient can not only detect, but understand speech.
  4. SPEECH IN NOISE TEST: This test will determine how well you hear in a noisy environment.
  5. REVIEW RESULTS: The results of your tests will be recorded on a graph called an audiogram, which Dr. Mario will review with you. The audiogram reflects your hearing abilities in frequencies and decibels.