Methods of medical and self-testing of hearing. Three surefire ways to test your hearing How to test your hearing at home

A hearing test, or audiometric test, or simply put, audiometry, is part of a hearing examination that tests how well sound is perceived by the brain.

The sounds we hear are vibrations of air, liquids or solid materials in environment. Vibration creates sound waves with its own frequency and amplitude. The frequency of vibration determines the pitch of the sound, and the amplitude determines the volume.

When sound waves enter the ear, they become nerve impulses, which our brain perceives and we recognize sound.

In general, a hearing test helps determine whether a patient has hearing loss. In this article we will look at different ways hearing tests.

2. Why have your hearing tested?

A hearing test may be done to:

• Check newborns and small children to identify hearing impairments. Hearing problems can prevent children from developing normally, so it is best to diagnose them early.
• Check possible deterioration hearing in those patients who notice problems with hearing and perception of audio information;
• Determine the type of hearing loss: conductive or sensorineural. Mixed types of hearing loss are also possible.

3. How to prepare for the test?

Tell your doctor if

• You have recently been exposed to loud noises that caused ringing in your ears. Avoid loud noises before the test, as they may interfere with the actual result.
• You are taking medications that may affect your hearing.
• You have problems understanding normal (soft) speech.
• You have recently had a cold or ear infection.

Before the test, the doctor may also examine your ears and remove any accumulated earwax, because it may interfere with your hearing test.

If you are undergoing a hearing test wearing headphones, you will need to remove your glasses, hair clips, and any other items that may interfere with your headphones.

If you wear a hearing aid, you may also be asked to remove it.

4. How is hearing tested?

In this section we will look at different methods hearing tests.

Whisper hearing test

This test is the simplest and is known to everyone early age. During a whisper hearing test, the doctor will ask you to cover one ear and repeat the words behind it. During this test, the doctor may change the distance between you.

Pure-tone audiometry

Pure-tone audiometry uses a special device (audiometer) that plays a series of sounds through headphones. Sounds vary in pitch. During pure-tone audiometry, the doctor will lower the sounds until you say you can no longer hear them. The doctor will then slowly turn up the volume until you say you can hear the sounds again. During pure-tone audiometry, each ear is tested separately. After checking through the headphones, you will need to remove them. The doctor will now use a special device that is placed on the bone behind the ear and repeat the test.

Tuning fork test

A tuning fork is a special iron two-pointed fork that produces a sound when struck. The doctor will measure your hearing by producing a sound different places, and check the response of your hearing organs.

Speech perception and word recognition

This type of test is used to measure how well you hear and understand words during a conversation. The doctor will ask you to repeat a sequence of simple spoken words.

Audiological screening (otoacoustic emissions)

This test is used for infants. A small microphone is inserted into the child's ear and measures the ear's response to sound.

Auditory brainstem response

This type of test allows you to detect hearing impairment such as sensorineural hearing loss. During this test, electrodes are placed on the head and measure brain activity while sounds are played.

What's worth knowing?

The hearing testing methods presented in our article are not all possible tests. Your doctor can suggest his own method, which will certainly help diagnose possible problems with hearing or determine the cause of hearing loss.

You must agree or disagree with the statements below.

• Often you don't hear a knock on the door or a phone call.


• When communicating on the phone, you experience some discomfort.


• Sometimes people around you ask you to lower your voice.


• IN noisy company It’s hard for you what your interlocutor says.


• Household members complain that you turn up the volume on the TV to maximum.


• Can you hear the low ones male voices, rather than voices and .


• You often find that people around you do not speak clearly.

If you agree with most of the statements, you should consider visiting a doctor.

Another way to test your hearing yourself

You can test your hearing yourself using loud speech and whispering. No special equipment is required for this. The patient must be six meters away from the examiner. It is necessary to turn to the examiner with one ear and close the other with your finger. The examiner begins to whisper words, preferably numbers. If the patient hears and repeats everything, his hearing is fine. Otherwise, the examiner needs to reduce the distance between himself and the patient until he hears the named number. If this does not happen even at close range, you need to switch from whispering to conversational speech.

Medonsky test

There is a simple way to characterize hearing loss - the Medonsky test. It allows you to find out whether the receiving device is damaged ( inner ear) or apparatus (elements of the middle and outer ear).

During this procedure, the examiner must speak a few words loudly over the patient's head so that he repeats them. Then the examiner, without interrupting his speech, presses the patient’s ear tragus with his index fingers. If the patient continues to hear and repeat words, the middle ear is damaged. If he hears only individual words or does not hear anything at all, hearing loss is caused by damage to the outer ear.

Audiometry is medical method, to determine the level of hearing. When performing such testing, the degree of sensitivity of the auditory analyzer in relation to sounds of different frequencies and intensities is assessed. In the hospital, hearing tests are carried out using special equipment. The advantages of acumetry are that it allows you to dose different sound signals. Due to this, it is possible to determine the threshold susceptibility for sounds of different frequencies. In hospital settings, testing is carried out in soundproofed rooms. Based on the results of such an examination, it is possible to identify not only a decrease in hearing, but also the type of hearing loss. But you don’t have to go to the hospital to have your hearing checked; you can check it yourself.

Check Features

When checking your hearing by a doctor in conditions medical institution not only a decrease in audibility is determined, but also pathological process, which flows in the sound analyzer. Using an audiometer, an otolaryngologist or audiologist examines the level of conduction of air and bone sounds. Experts distinguish several types of audiometry:

1. Speech. This method considered the simplest and most accessible. In this hearing test, the doctor determines the level of speech recognition. When checking audibility, the doctor pronounces words in a voice of different volumes, and the patient must repeat them.
2. Tonal. This acoustic testing method helps determine how well a person hears sounds of different frequencies and intensities.
3. Computer. This hearing test is considered the most accurate. It helps determine the susceptibility of the sound-conducting and sound-perceiving systems.

Speech and pure-tone audiometry are classified as subjective methods for testing hearing levels. During the test, the specialist takes into account only the testimony of the person being examined, who says which sounds he hears and which he does not.

During a computer hearing test, different sensitive electrodes are connected to a person, which record activity in certain areas of the brain, if auditory analyzer responds to signals received from an external source.

The first symptoms of hearing impairment are frequent fatigue after communication, the inability to hear the interlocutor normally and speaking in high tones. A high-pitched sound on a TV, phone or alarm clock should alert you.

Speech audiometry

It is possible to test your hearing at home using speech audiometry. Similar method research does not require the use of special equipment and devices. To test your hearing, you simply need to hear human speech. But you need to understand that the results of such testing depend not only on the condition of the hearing organs, but also on vocabulary the person being examined.

For objective verification level of audibility, the audiometrist must speak not just words, but entire phrases that consist of simple words that are understandable to everyone. It is not difficult to carry out such a test, the main thing is to choose a room in which almost no extraneous noise can be heard. The person being examined is placed on a chair in the middle of the room.

• He moves two meters away from the person being examined and whispers a phrase consisting of 8-9 simple words.
• Moves away from the subject approximately 5 meters and quietly pronounces individual phrases.
• From a distance of about 20 meters, he loudly pronounces a phrase consisting of simple words.

During such a test, the subject must clearly repeat what he heard. This testing allows you to determine hearing impairment.

When conducting speech audiometry, the person conducting the examination should ask the subject how well he hears phrases and phrases spoken at different distances.

Determination of survey results

If there are no pathologies, then the person can hear speech spoken in a whisper, the ticking of a clock and any sounds that are in the range of up to 25 dB. If sounds in this range are clearly audible, we can say with confidence that the hearing is normal. When determining the results, the following points are also taken into account:

• If a person cannot fully understand speech spoken in a whisper from a distance of two meters, then degree 1 hearing loss can be suspected.
• If you are unable to understand quietly spoken phrases from a distance of 6 meters, you can speak of hearing loss of the 2nd degree.
• If the person being examined has difficulty hearing very loud speech spoken from a distance of 20 meters, then we can talk about stage 2-3 hearing loss.

If any abnormalities are detected during a home hearing test, you need to contact an otolaryngologist who will conduct additional examination and prescribe treatment.

Auditory audiometry is most often used not for precise definition hearing acuity, and for correct settings hearing aid.

How to test your hearing yourself

It is quite possible to check the hearing on your own, without the involvement of other people. To independently check the operation of the hearing aid, a special test has been developed in which you need to clearly answer the questions posed. The list of questions is as follows:

• Is it good to hear the ticking of a wall clock and whispered phrases?
• Do you have problems with normal speech perception when talking on the phone?
• Is it often necessary to ask again what the interlocutor said?
• Has anyone noticed that the TV in the house is too loud?
• Can you hear the birds singing outside the window?
• Is it good to understand quiet speech from a distance of two meters?
• Is the speech of your interlocutors well received?

If most of the answers indicate that hearing acuity is impaired, you should seek advice from a specialist.

Carry out an audiometric examination when colds it is forbidden. At this time it happens severe inflammation nasopharynx, which leads to deterioration of the patency of the Eustachian tube, therefore, when respiratory diseases There is a natural decrease in the audibility of sounds.

To ensure the reliability of the results obtained, testing can only be done if you are feeling well.

Verification Applications

Online audiometry can be used to test hearing acuity. These are special applications that run on different platforms operating systems. To find out how well the organs perceive sounds, you should pass special tests developed by leading experts.

The most common programs for testing hearing acuity are:

• Hörtest.
• Mimi Hearing Test.
• uHear.

If you don’t have a smartphone, you can check your hearing with an audiogram online using a computer, but for this you need to have headphones ready. Based on the results of such testing, we can say with confidence whether a person hears well or not.

Check the audibility of sounds using computer programs should be done in absolute silence, otherwise the examination results will not be accurate.

Checking for small children

It is very difficult to check the hearing of newborn babies without the involvement of a specialist. At this age, the child cannot speak yet, so ear pathologies are very easy to miss.

Checking the hearing level of a newborn child at home is not easy, but if there is any suspicious situation, parents should inform the pediatrician.

Before a month, it is almost impossible to determine how a child reacts to sounds. Babies begin to respond to different sounds only with one month old. Parents should closely monitor the development of the baby. Among the toys, you should definitely buy a musical carousel, rattles and various squeakers.

When testing a baby's hearing, the following methods are used:

• Take a jar of baby puree and fill it with any cereal. Take turns rubbing the jar near the baby’s ears and observing the reaction.
• Make a loud sound out of the child's sight. If the baby reacted, then the hearing is absolutely fine. It is important not to overdo it here, as the baby may get scared. loud sound and burst into tears.
• You can quietly hum a melody or ring a bell next to your baby's ear. If he responds to all sounds, then there is no cause for concern.

By age three months the child already recognizes the mother’s voice and reacts violently to it. Starting from six months, the child tries to reproduce sounds himself.

If there is deterioration in hearing, then you need to consult a doctor. The specialist will determine the cause of this pathology and prescribe complex treatment. It is worth considering that with early therapy, hearing can be restored partially or even completely.

The human hearing organ has a complex and at the same time unique structure. So, the ears are responsible for many important functions in the structure of man. First of all, the human hearing organ is necessary for the receptivity of sounds, their processing and conversion into decibels, and then sending them to the brain. In addition, the ear is responsible for human balance.

In case of dysfunction of any department, a person experiences ear pain and headaches, loss of hearing acuity, a feeling of congestion, and others. unpleasant symptoms, which can knock a person out of his usual way of life for a long time. In order to test the sensitivity of sounds, there are hearing testing programs.

Not all people can notice immediate hearing loss. In most cases, sound sensitivity occurs gradually. At this time, a person loses the ability to hear the lowest sounds. To determine the sensitivity of your hearing, you can take a hearing test online or contact a medical center.

However, a person pays attention to minor changes in the ear organ only after a hearing test. But truly human begins to worry only when he notices that the range of audibility has noticeably changed. Usually at this time a person cannot understand a whisper from an arm’s length distance or feels a problem understanding speech on TV or on the radio.

Cause Hearing impairment lies in dysfunction of the middle region of the hearing organ. The middle region is located after the outer part of the ear organ and in front of the inner ear. The middle region does not have a complex, but exceptional structure, and thanks to its work, a person perceives both the highest and low-frequency sounds.

In addition, this part distinguishes and enhances signals, intonations and various noises.

In general, the following elements are responsible for the operation and transmission of sounds:

1. Outdoor area. It includes the auricle and the external auditory canal. It is separated from the middle region of the hearing organ by the eardrum.
2. Middle ear. After the eardrum there is the middle ear, the Eustachian tube and auditory ossicles.
3. Interior has one of the most unusual structures in the human body. The second name of the described area is a labyrinth. The main task of the labyrinth is to maintain human balance.

IN anatomy ear includes the following elements:

• curl;
• antihelix;
• antitragus;
• earlobe.

Due to its complex and unique structure, various bacteria and infections rarely enter the hearing organ, and external factors cannot affect human health.

Therefore, almost all ear diseases occur during periods of weak immune system or as a result of the penetration of viruses through the nasopharynx.

The structure of the middle part of the hearing organ

As we have already found out, the reason for decreased hearing acuity and other inflammations lies in a disease of the middle part of the ear. Before identifying the reasons, let’s understand the structure of this element.

Everyone knows that the middle ear is located behind the eardrum and is located near the temporal part. In the depths of the temporal region are located the following parts of the middle ear:

1. The mastoid process is located in the temporal bone. It connects the tympanic and temporal parts.
2. Between the temporal region and the external ear canal there is a tympanic cavity.
3. This area is connected to the nasopharynx using the Eustachian tube. Its functions include pressure regulation.

These three elements have numerous functions and additional structures.

So, the main area of ​​the middle ear is tympanic cavity. Its structure includes the following components:

1. The hammer is adjacent to the eardrum. It transmits the received sound waves further to the auditory ossicles.
2. The second component of the bones is the anvil. It is located after the malleus, but before the stirrup. The main function of this bone is to transmit sound vibrations further in the direction.
3. The stapes covers the auditory ossicles. Its function is to transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear and then to the brain. Interestingly, this area is considered the lightest bone not only in the ears, but in the entire body. Its size is about four millimeters and its weight is 2.5 mg.

All of the above elements convert sound waves or noise and transmit the processed sounds further to the internal part.

If one bone is damaged, dysfunction of the entire section occurs, and as a result, loss of hearing acuity.

Besides, The tasks of the auditory ossicles include:

1. Maintaining eardrum function.
2. Adjusts and reduces very high sounds.
3. Adaptation of the ear to the perception of different sounds in height and strength.

You should visit an ear doctor twice a year. This way you can avoid many types of inflammation.

There are special sounds for hearing testing. When examined by an ENT doctor, do not forget to undergo a hearing acuity test.

Good hearing plays a huge role in everyday communication. Defects or lack of hearing significantly impoverish a person’s world, depriving him of the ability to communicate, which often results in difficulties at home and at work. The causes of hearing loss and deafness are varied. Hearing loss can be congenital or may occur as a result of ear disease. In addition, a defect in sound perception may be due to general illness body.

The choice of hearing test method depends on what exactly needs to be determined: the perception of sounds by the auditory system, the degree of hearing loss, or the sensitivity of the patient’s ear to sounds. different frequencies. In addition, when choosing a method, it is also taken into account which system is affected by the hearing loss.

Hearing testing using whispered and spoken speech

Often this study is part of mandatory medical examinations, during which the general state human health. The doctor stands at some distance from the patient being examined, while the patient is prohibited from looking towards the doctor. During the examination, each ear is tested separately, for which the opposite ear is “switched off” by inserting a Barany ratchet into the external auditory canal. The doctor then says the numbers in a normal voice and in a whisper. Carrying out this simple study allows you to obtain preliminary data on the patient’s hearing condition. Hearing acuity is determined by the distance at which the subject hears the doctor’s whispered or spoken speech. For example, a person with normal hearing hears a whisper at a distance of 10 m. In addition, during a study of whispered speech, it is possible to identify hearing loss, which manifests itself in a decrease in the acuity of perception of high tones.

Hearing test with tuning forks

The cause of hearing loss may be damage to the middle ear (conductive hearing loss) or inner ear(sensorineural hearing loss). Tuning fork studies are carried out to identify damage to the system that transmits or receives sound.

Weber's experience

This study is conducted to determine the lateralization of sound. The doctor places the sounding tuning fork at the crown of the patient so that its leg is in the middle of the head. Normally, the subject hears the sound of a tuning fork equally in both ears. With unilateral damage to the sound-conducting apparatus, the sound is lateralized in sore ear. Hearing damage of the type of sound perception disorder is accompanied by lateralization of sound to the better hearing ear.

Rinne's experience

A sounding tuning fork is placed on the mastoid area. After the patient’s perception of sound has ceased, the tuning fork is brought to the outer ear canal. With a positive Rinne experience, there is a predominance air conduction sound above the bone, with a negative sound, vice versa. Rinne’s positive experience indicates normal hearing, while a negative one indicates diseases of the sound-conducting apparatus.

Jelly Experience

The experiment is carried out in patients with conductive hearing loss to identify impaired mobility of the stapes. The doctor, blowing air using a Politzer balloon, acts on eardrum, then attaches to mastoid process sounding tuning fork. If the auditory ossicles are mobile, then when the pressure on the eardrum increases, the sound becomes quieter, and when it decreases, it becomes louder. If the auditory ossicles are motionless, then the sound intensity does not change.

This study of hearing sensitivity using electroacoustic instruments allows us to determine the hearing threshold and the sensitivity of the auditory organ to sounds of different frequencies.

Examination in children

Hearing testing in children is very great importance. Children with hearing impairments may be delayed in mental development, therefore, hearing tests are an integral part of preventive examinations of children. Children, like adults, are examined by an otolaryngologist.

Even with a slight hearing loss, it is necessary to urgently contact an otolaryngologist. Sometimes when proper treatment Some types of hearing loss can be cured.