Questions for the Audiologist Expert:

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What happens during a hearing test?
Your audiologist will ask you about the difficulties you are having with your hearing, and if there is any hearing loss in your family. She will look in your ears to make sure there is no blockage causing the hearing difficulties. If the ears are clean, she will proceed with the tone test looking for the very softest sounds you can hear. She will then move on to some speech testing that will include: softest speech responses, most comfortable listening levels, speech discrimination, and loudness tolerance levels (if you have a hearing loss). She will go over the results and discuss your options with you. That's it! Should take about an hour.

Who needs hearing protection?
OSHA states that anyone in a sustained noisy environment of over 85 dB needs to use some sort of hearing protection (muffs or plugs). This is usually measured in a factory. Chainsaws, lawn mowers, power tools, and even vacuum cleaners can get pretty loud. Motorcycles, guns, and rock concerts are on that list as well. A good rule of thumb: If you have to raise your voice to be heard over the noise, it's probably too loud.

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