On the other hand, if your doctor suspects that your nasal passages are blocked and cannot see them adequately during a physical exam, he or she will probably order a nasal endoscopy to find out the cause, especially if you are having trouble breathing. A second component of a head and neck exam is a hearing test. Usually the easiest and most comprehensive way to assess hearing is with pure-tone audiometry, in which tones of differing magnitude and frequency are played for you to identify. The test is usually performed by an audiologist, who is specially trained to give and score the hearing test. The test is so widespread that it is often performed outside a doctor's office, at schools and at some job sites.
Many people go to an otolaryngologist when they experience reductions in taste and smell.
Problems identified by this test may be related to malfunction of the taste and smell receptors that are part of the oral-nasal system, or may have roots in the structures in the brain that interpret sensory information. An overview of imaging studies for the eyes, head, and neck can be found in table 18.4 . Blurred vision in one or both eyes due to an uncorrected visual problem early in life. Eye examination to observe how eyes move and focus as they follow an object, visual acuity test, tests for depth perception, and ophthalmoscopy. Cataracts Clouding of the lens loses its transparency, becoming visibly opaque.