Hearing loss assessment

DIAGNOSTIC SPEECH AUDIOMETRY

A hearing test to assess your speech-processing abilities throughout the auditory system

About having a hearing loss assessment

Speech audiometry helps to determine the degree and type of hearing loss a person has.

It is used to assess your word recognition abilities, your level of discomfort or tolerance to speech stimuli and to determine the correct levels for any amplifying devices, such as hearing aids.

Need to know

What happens during the assessment?

The assessment will be conducted in two sound booths within our audiology suite. Your audiologist works from an audiometric equipment room, while you take the tests in our comfortable evaluation room.

You will be need to sit in a booth with headphones on for two speech tests:

Speech reception threshold (SRT). Your audiologist will ask you to repeat a list of words to determine how softly you are able to hear words.
Word recognition ability. You will be asked to repeat words you hear through your headphones.

Your audiologist will be measuring your clarity and ability to understand speech. The assessment will take 10 minutes.

How to prepare

Your audiologist will inform you how best to prepare for your test.

After the assessment

The audiologist will share your test results with you when you've completed the tests. Your word recognition ability is typically measured as a percentage score.

Your audiologist may want to book you in for a follow-up appointment to discuss your results and the best course of action to take for your individual case. You will be able to return home immediately after the test.