At your appointment, the audiologist will ask you a few simple questions about your lifestyle, family history and whether you have difficulty hearing in any particular situations (such as noisy public places).
The audiologist will then take a look inside your ears using an instrument called an otoscope, which is totally non-intrusive and is designed to ascertain whether you have any obstructions or ear infections that might be temporarily affecting your ability to hear properly.
After that, you will be asked to listen to a series of beeping sounds through the latest ear insert technology, set at different frequencies and intensity. This will determine if you have trouble hearing certain types of sounds which can affect your ability to hear. This part of the test is known as "audiometry".
We will then ask a close family member or friend (with whom you communicate with regularly) to read out a list of words, and you will be asked to repeat the words you hear. This exercise will demonstrate how well you hear speech in a real-life environment. This is known as familiar voice testing, a technique pioneered by HearingLife and designed to assess how well you hear in both quiet and noisy environments.