You’re a pretty busy person, so it’s understandable that you completely forgot about the hearing exam you have scheduled for tomorrow. Fortunately, you just received that reminder text from us, and you still have a few hours to prepare. So what should I do to get ready?
Hearing exams aren’t like back in college or high school where you’d have to stay up all night to study for a test. Preparing for a hearing test is more about thinking over your symptoms and making sure you don’t forget anything. In other words, getting ready for your hearing exam is really about ensuring you get as much out of your time with us as possible.
Get prepared using these 7 tips!
1. List out all of your symptoms and when you experience them
Hearing loss doesn’t manifest the same way for everybody all the time. There may be some symptoms that are apparent and others that are more discreet. So take some notes on when your symptoms are most pronounced before your appointment. You can write things down like:
- Do you find yourself losing concentration in meetings at work? Does this normally occur in the morning? All day?
- Is it challenging to have conversations on the phone? Take note of times when understanding the person on the other end is harder.
- Did you have a hard time hearing the TV? Do you have it turned way up? And do you notice that it’s more difficult to hear at night than in the morning?
- When you’re out in a crowded restaurant, do you struggle to keep up with conversations? Does that happen a lot?
We find this type of information very helpful. Take note of the day and time of these symptoms if you can. If you can’t, just remember that they did happen.
2. Get some information about hearing aids
How complete is your knowledge about hearing aids? You don’t want to make any decisions based on false information you might have picked up somewhere. An ideal time to get some valid info is when we advise you that hearing aids would benefit you.
Knowing what kinds of hearing devices are available and what your preferences might be can help speed along the process and help you get better answers.
3. Review your medical history
This is another time when writing something down can help speed up the post-hearing-test-conversation. Before your appointment, you should take a little time to jot down your medical history. Include major medical occurrences and also minor ones. Here are a few examples:
- Allergies and reactions to medications.
- Medical devices you might presently use.
- Major or minor surgical procedures that you have undergone.
- Medications you’re currently taking.
- Any history of illness or health problems (you don’t have to note every cold, but anything that stands out).
4. Stay away from loud sounds and noisy environments
If you have a hearing exam scheduled and you attend a loud concert the night before, the outcome will be skewed. The results will be similarly skewed if you go to 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 assessment. This will ensure the results are an accurate reflection of the current health of your hearing.
5. Talk to your insurance beforehand
It can be somewhat challenging sorting out what parts of your appointment will be covered by insurance. If your hearing loss is part of a medical problem, some insurance plans will cover it. But not all plans will. You will be much more confident at your appointment if you get this all squared away before you come in. We can also help you in some cases. If we can’t, you will need to speak directly with your insurance company.
6. Bring a family member or friend in with you
There are several significant benefits to bringing a friend or relative with you to your hearing exam, though it’s not entirely necessary. Here are some of the most notable benefits:
- You don’t always know when your hearing isn’t functioning correctly but it’s a safe bet your spouse or partner does! This means that we will have access to even more insight to help make an accurate diagnosis or exam.
- You’re likely to cover a lot of info at your exam. Having a dependable friend or loved one with you can help you remember all of that information later.
7. The results will come fairly quickly
With many medical diagnostics, it might be days or weeks before you get your results. But that’s not the situation with a hearing exam. 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 what’s even better, we’ll show you how to enhance your overall hearing health and walk you through what your results mean. Perhaps that’s a hearing aid, maybe it’s some changes to your behavior, or some ear protection. Either way, you’ll know it immediately.
So, you don’t have to cram for your hearing exam. But being ready will be helpful, particularly for you.