Hearing Test

You have been referred for a hearing assessment. This page will tell you about the procedure and help you prepare for the appointment and what happens if you require a hearing aid.

You will be attending one of our mobile or fixed units for your hearing test. If you are unable to make your appointment please contact the Audiology Referral Centre on 0845 602 6918.

Before your appointment

If you require assistance with language interpretation or would like to be escorted by a friend, relative or carer, please advise the Audiology Referral Centre so that the clinic staff are ready for you. It is vital that before your appointment you have your ears checked for any wax problems at your GP clinic. If your ears are blocked with wax when you arrive for testing, your appointment may be cancelled and you will be referred back to your GP. This is because wax may prevent a proper examination of your ears and will adversely affect the hearing test results.

Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time; if you are late we may not be able to carry out your test. Please do not bring children to your appointment.

When you arrive

The mobile unit has a lift in case you cannot use stairs. At the clinic you will see a specialist called an audiologist for your hearing assessment. The assessment will take approximately 45 minutes.

The Examination

The assessment consists of the Audiologist asking you questions about your medical history, enquiring on how your hearing problems are causing you difficulties and then finally examining your ears before testing your hearing.

The test will involve you wearing headphones and listening to a variety of tones – sounding like musical notes. You’ll have to indicate when you hear the particular sound, usually by pressing a button. It’s very important that you respond to the quietest sound you can hear even if you are not sure. We are able to tell if your response is a valid one or not so you don’t need to worry about doing the test incorrectly.

We may also need to carry out a middle ear pressure test on you. This only takes a few minutes, does not hurt and can give us information on your middle ear status.

When will I get the results?

Once the test is finished the Audiologist will explain the results to you. The outcome will be either that your hearing is normal, or that you require onward referral to an Ear, Nose & Throat Consultant or that you would benefit from a hearing aid. If a hearing aid is required you have the choice of whether you want this fitted. The Audiologist is there to advise you and take your instructions and he will take the appropriate action depending upon what decision you make.

If you need a hearing aid

If you have been advised that you would benefit from having a hearing aid (or aids), the Audiologist may choose to fit you with an aid there and then if you are suitable for what is called an ‘open fitting’. If not, he will take an impression of your ears so that a customised ear mould can be made for you. This has to be sent away but as soon as it returns we will be in contact with you to make an appointment at your convenience, this is usually within 2 weeks.

At the subsequent appointment we will fit you with your hearing aid, programme it to match your type and degree of hearing loss, and give you full instructions on how to use and control it. Everything we tell you will be written down so that you can go over it again later.

Follow up 6 - 8 weeks later

We will arrange a follow up 6 – 8 weeks later to see how you are progressing and perform any alterations required. However, if you are experiencing difficulties prior to your follow up don’t wait. You can call us on 0845 602 6918.

And afterwards?

We are here to help and support you after you have had a hearing aid from us. Please do not turn up to the clinic without prior arrangement.

For more information, please contact us using the details below:

Audiology Patient Information Line: 0845 602 6918

Email: audiologycustomercare@inhealthgroup.com  

 

Giving your consent for the procedure

In addition to giving consent for the test or procedure to be undertaken, either verbal or written, all NHS patients are required to give written consent to data sharing. This is because we have to share patient identifiable information with other organisations in order to report a patient’s scan/test and we have to share the test results with the referring GP or consultant. Occasionally it is necessary to request a further report for a second opinion. We are also obliged to provide a sample of our images and reports to an independent clinician for clinical audit and quality assurance. Any audit reports issued contain no patient identifiable information.

InHealth has a strict policy regarding patient confidentiality which means that we never share information about patients with anyone/organisation that does not need to know about the patient’s clinical condition. InHealth never shares any information about patients with commercial companies or gives personal details to anyone who works outside of our company, its clinical providers and the local NHS. All our clinical providers conform with our confidentiality policy.

If you are not willing to complete the consent process in accordance with our requirements it may not be possible to complete your test or procedure.