You’re a pretty busy person, so it’s reasonable that you totally forgot about the hearing exam you have scheduled for tomorrow. Luckily, you just got that reminder text from us, and you still have some time to prepare. So… what should you do?
Hearing exams aren’t like those days in college or high school where you’d have to stay up all night to study for a test. Getting ready for a hearing test is more about thinking through your symptoms and making certain you don’t forget anything. Essentially, getting ready for your hearing exam is really about ensuring you get as much out of your time with us as you can.
Here are 7 simple ways to get prepped and ready!
1. Create a list of your symptoms (and when they occur)
The symptoms of hearing loss differ from person to person and at different times. There might be some symptoms that are apparent and others that are more discreet. So, before you come in, it’s a good idea to start taking a few notes on when your hearing loss is most noticeable. Some things you can write down include:
- When you’re in meetings at work, do you lose focus? Does this tend to happen in the morning? All day?
- Did you have issues hearing a conversation while eating out in a crowded restaurant? If so, how often does that take place?
- Is it frustrating to have conversations on the phone? Take note of times when hearing the person on the other end is harder.
- Was it difficult to hear the television? Do you have it turned way up? And do you have a harder time hearing at night?
This type of information is really useful for us. If you can, take note of the time and date these instances occurred. At least observe the occurrence of the symptoms if you can’t record the times.
2. Get some info about hearing aids
How complete is your knowledge about hearing aids? It’s an important question because you don’t want to make any decisions influenced by what you think you know. If we inform you a hearing aid would be helpful, that’s would be the perfect moment to ask educated questions.
You will get better information and the process will be accelerated when you know what kinds of hearing devices are available and understand what your preferences are.
3. Think about your medical past
This is another instance when writing something down can help speed up the post-hearing-test-discussion. Before your appointment, you should take a little time to write down your medical history. Include major medical occurrences and also minor ones. Here are a few examples:
- Operations you’ve undergone, both major or minor.
- Medical devices you might currently be using.
- Medication interactions and allergies.
- What kind of medication you take.
- Illness or diseases you’ve experienced that stick out in your mind.
4. Stay away from loud sounds and noisy settings
If you have a hearing exam scheduled and you go to a loud concert the night before, the results will be impacted. The results will be similarly skewed if you attend an airshow the day of your exam. You can see where we’re going with this: you want to safeguard your ears from loud noises before your hearing test. This will help ensure your results are accurate and reveal your current hearing health.
5. Before your appointment, check with your insurance company
It can be somewhat confusing sorting out what parts of your appointment will be covered by insurance. If your hearing loss is part of a medical condition, some insurance plans will cover it. But other plans may not. You will be a lot more confident at your appointment if you get this all figured out before you come in. We can also help you in certain cases. If not, you can speak to your insurance company directly.
6. Ask someone to come with you
There are some considerable advantages to bringing a friend or relative with you to your hearing test, though it’s not entirely necessary. Here are several of the most prominent advantages:
- You’re likely to cover a lot of info during your appointment. Having a dependable friend or loved one with you can help you remember all of that information when you get home.
- Even when you aren’t aware that you have hearing impairment, people close to you will absolutely be aware of it. This means that we will have access to even more insight to help make an accurate diagnosis or exam.
7. The results will come fairly quickly
With many medical diagnostics, it could be days or weeks before you get your results. But with a hearing test, that’s not the case. Just like the bubble-sheet tests that got fed through the scantron machine when you were in college, you get your results right away.
And better yet, we’ll walk you through what your results mean and how you can enhance your overall hearing health. Perhaps that’s a hearing aid, maybe it’s some changes to your behavior, or some hearing protection. Either way, you’ll know it immediately.
So, you won’t need to cram for your hearing exam. But it is helpful, mainly for you, to be prepared!