Meet Your Hearing Specialist: Preparing for Your Fall Check-Up

Autumn marks an ideal opportunity to prioritize auditory health. Perhaps it’s the serene quiet of fall that helps us become more in tune with nature’s full array of sounds – either way a visit to your hearing specialist this season is essential in improving auditory wellbeing and they will put together some tips and insights in advance of your fall check-up with them!

Pre-Appointment Checklist

Before your next specialist appointment, you will need to make sure you have a list of your medical history for your hearing instrument specialist, this will help them in diagnosing your hearing loss. Here’s a pre-appointment checklist to make the experience as successful and productive as possible:

• • History of hearing issues: Keep track of any changes or problems with your hearing, no matter how minor they might seem.
  • List of medications: Keep track of any medications currently taken as some can have an impact on hearing health.
  • Changes to lifestyle and recreation activities that impact hearing tests: Note any lifestyle adjustments which could have an effect on hearing tests, such as new work environments or recreation options.

Know About Different Hearing Tests and Their Varieties

• • Pure-tone audiometry: Tests your ability to hear sounds at various volumes and pitches.
  • Speech reception and word recognition tests: Evaluate whether you understand speech in quiet as well as noisy environments.
  • Tympanometry: Evaluates how the middle ear functions.
  • Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs): Measure the inner ear’s response to sound.

Keeping Them in Prime Condition

If you already own hearing aids, autumn offers the ideal time and opportunity for their servicing – here are a few key things that might help:

• Cleaning: Explore proper techniques for keeping hearing aids clean.
• Adjustments: Explore potential adjustments that could better match specific environments.
• Battery checks: To make sure batteries are functioning well and maximize battery lifespan.

Your hearing instrument specialist will talk with you about how to effectively clean and manage your hearing aids,

Make Your Appointment Meaningful

In order to ensure the appointment is truly productive and meaningful, here are a few additional suggestions on making it effective:

• • Feedback analysis: If you already wear hearing aids, be sure to discuss any feedback or issues with your hearing instrument specialist as this can assist them in configuring the devices to suit your individual needs more closely.
  • Emergency protocols: Before embarking on any sudden hearing loss treatment or malfunction of hearing aids, be aware of what would need to happen should panic ensue in such instances. Have an action plan ready that can ease such scenarios.
  • Follow-up appointments: Arrange to have regular follow-up appointments scheduled in order to proactively manage your hearing health, in order to spot potential problems early. Check-ups may catch any emerging issues before they turn into more significant concerns.

Embracing the Sounds of Fall

• Nature walks: Take in all the sounds and sights of autumn by heading out on nature walks this autumn season. Focus your eyes and ears on rustling leaves, birds chirping happily and the gentle breeze as you observe all that fall has to offer.
• Sound journal: Start recording all the different noises you hear every day to help reconnect with auditory world. It could serve as an invaluable way to regain sensory inputs!
• Hearing-friendly spaces: Create hearing-friendly spaces by reducing noise pollution in your home and adding soft furnishings that absorb sound to enhance quality of sound within living space.

With autumn on its way, now is an opportune moment to fine-tune your hearing aids so you can better enjoy nature’s delicate melodies. A visit to your hearing instrument specialist not only safeguards auditory health but can also increase quality-of-life; by being prepared, making informed decisions and cooperating effectively with them during an appointment you may see this fall. Why not learn more about Niagara Hearing and Speech Clinic and get in touch by calling (855) 797-8002.