Treatment Process
Your journey to better hearing and a better quality of life starts with simply reaching out to one of our friendly local staff – by calling us on (07) 4952 4649, emailing us at listening@mackayhearing.com.au, or leaving us a message on our website.
While our experienced clinicians will guide you through the hearing treatment process, you will be empowered to make fully informed decisions and encouraged to take ownership of your hearing rehabilitation.
At the hearing assessment appointment
Gathering your case history
Discussing your hearing difficulties, hearing goals and lifestyle, is an important part of the hearing assessment appointment. It allows our clinicians to start developing a picture of your history, concerns, needs and values.
To do this we will go over your hearing and ear health history, discuss how hearing loss is impacting your everyday life, and discuss the results from your hearing questionnaire. It is often helpful to bring a companion to participate in this discussion as hearing loss affects those close our clients as well.
The hearing assessment
The hearing assessment itself commences with our clinicians inspecting your outer ears and ear canals, and testing outer and middle ear function. This begins to identify any potential issues with the conduction of sound through to the inner ear. We also carry out an objective measure of the responsiveness of the hearing hair cells in your cochlea.
The main part of the test is carried out with latest technology testing equipment and in our sound treated clinical rooms. Testing involves responding to sounds at different loudness and pitch levels, repeating single syllable words (to check how clearly you decipher speech sounds) and repeating sentences in increasing background noise (to check how clearly you decipher intended sound from noise). Other tests can also be carried out if the clinician needs to delve into a particular issue in more detail.
The results will be plotted on graphs to be presented and discussed with you. The results indicate:
- whether you have a hearing loss
- the ‘shape’ of the hearing loss (ie. if it affects a particular pitch only or is more ‘across the board’)
- the severity of the hearing loss
- the part of the auditory system that is damaged
- whether the hearing nerve and neurological pathways are functioning well enough to enable speech sounds to be heard clearly
- whether hearing aids are likely to provide benefit
- whether other medical practitioners of any issues potentially requiring medical management (further investigation and treatment)
After the results are discussed, we will chat about potential hearing treatment options. This may involve hearing aids or other hearing devices, auditory training, hearing strategies or a combination of these. Our clinicians will provide all relevant information so you can make an informed decision on your preferred course of action.
Our clinicians take the time to make sure you understand your test results and treatment options, that your expectations are realistic and clear and, if necessary, we can discuss more specific hearing health issues you may have, such as tinnitus or hyperacusis (sensitivity to sound).
Hearing concerns or not, let's chat!
If you or a loved one is experiencing any symptoms or impacts of hearing loss, or your hearing questionnaire indicates potential hearing difficulties, please consider contacting Mackay Hearing to book a comprehensive diagnostic hearing assessment.
Hearing assessments are also recommended for people with no hearing loss symptoms – it’s an excellent idea to get some baseline results on file for future monitoring, and you might have hearing loss and not know it. The sooner you address hearing loss, the better the outcome you are likely to have and the less impacts you are likely to experience.
Choosing the right device
If the hearing assessment results indicate that you are a hearing aid candidate, and you are keen to give it a go, our clinicians will explain the range of devices available.
It is likely there will be a range of potentially workable hearing aid options available to you. However there will probably be a shortlist of devices offering the best possible outcome, based on the type and degree of your hearing loss, ear size and shape, lifestyle, budget and aesthetic preferences.
We’ll talk you through the advantages and disadvantages of suitable options, giving you all the relevant information required to make an informed decision.
We also offer hearing aid trials and most hearing devices have a ‘return period’ if you are not satisfied.
Ongoing maintenance and support
Upon being fitted with hearing aids, we will provide you with advice for acclimatising to and maintaining your devices. Modern hearing aids are designed to be reliable, durable and easy to use, and you will be given tips for preventing problems and getting the most out of them.
We encourage you to attend a follow-up appointment after your hearing aid fitting to check-in on your acclimatisation and troubleshoot any issues.
You will also be invited to attend annual review appointments to ensure your hearing levels continue to be monitored and that your hearing aids are working well and up-to-date with any changes to your hearing and device software upgrades. We pride ourselves on our after-care and encourage our clients to contact us whenever a hearing aid issue arises.